Spatial Planning and Job Creation Law
The pros and cons of the Job Creation Law keep being discussed, including those related to environmental clusters.
A limestone mining location on the slopes of the Kendeng mountains, Sukolilo District, Pati Regency, Central Java, on Saturday (27/10/2012).
The pros and cons of the Job Creation Law keep being discussed, including those related to environmental clusters.
Opposing views related to environmental clusters revolve around the elimination of environmental permits, limited public participation, the disappearance of the Environmental Assessment Commission, the closure of claims due to environmental damage and the loss of administrative sanction types.
There is a critical issue the public has failed to notice but that could have major environmental implications, namely a stipulation on business licensing based on spatial compatibility. Article 13 of the Job Creation Law states that the simplification of basic requirements for business permits includes the utilization of spatial compatibility (ed: roughly translated as: business licensing requirements can be simplified if there is spatial compatibility).
The next article stipulates that, if the business actor has received confirmation that his business plan is in compliance with the detailed spatial plan (RDTR), the business actor can apply for a business license. This provision means that, if a business or activity is in a location that is in compliance with spatial planning, there is no need for an environmental impact analysis (amdal).
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The RDTR is an elaboration of the regional spatial plan (RTRW) and includes a zoning map. Can the RTRW alone, with the Amdal, be relied on for screening business/activity plans? A more substantive question is whether the RTRW can guarantee the realization of a national economy based on the principles of sustainability, environmental protection and independence, as mandated by Article 33 Paragraph 4 of the 1945 Constitution.
Amdal exemptions
The provisions on the exemption of the amdal requirement in business plans and/or activities located in areas that have an RDTR are stipulated in Government Regulation No. 27/2012 concerning environmental permits and in Environment and Forestry Ministry Regulation No. 24/2018, but through strict procedures.
The governor/regent/mayor submits a request for an exemption from the obligation to prepare an amdal to the Minister of Environment and Forestry (LHK) accompanied with RDTR and KLHS (Strategic Environmental Study) documents. If the minister gives approval, the exempted business/activity plan must still be accompanied with UKL/UPL (environmental management efforts).
Under the Job Creation Law, such a (strict) procedure is no longer enforced. As long as it is in accordance with the RDTR, the business permit is issued, given that the provisions on environmental permits have been eliminated. Even though, for example, these businesses or activities are required to submit the environmental management plan (RKL) and environmental monitoring plan (RPL), it is highly likely that the RKL and RPL are not detailed and comprehensive because they are not prepared in stages based on the amdal study.
The RKL and RPL are partially implemented on each business/activity, not including the accumulative impacts. If the business/activity is located in an area, the accumulative impacts are crucial to be identified and managed.
Spatial violations
Spatial planning is a guideline for using space and controlling space utilization. The issue of spatial planning for decades has been dominated by the use of space that is not in accordance with its designation. The floods in Jakarta are thought to have occurred due to land use changes in Puncak and Bogor that were not in accordance with their designation.
Kompas daily once reported on a protest by a resident of Tasikmalaya who had held up a banner reading: "For Sale Soon, Tasikmalaya Municipality". He was upset about the rapid development of his city, which was changed quickly by the onslaught of investors. Some parks turned into shophouses, historical buildings were torn down and replaced by shopping malls, green areas turned into housing complexes. The phenomenon of a city with less than 1 million inhabitants actually represents the development of other cities in Indonesia that are highly market-controlled.
Rampant spatial planning violations have prompted the revision of Law No. 24/1992 into Law No. 26/2007, which stipulates that “officials who give permission (for activities) that do not comply with the designation of a space and anyone who uses space not in compliance with its designation will be subject to criminal sanctions. The revised Spatial Planning Law also includes the provision that national, provincial, regency and municipality spatial planning must take into consideration the supporting capacity of the environment (DDL) and the carrying capacity of the environment (DTL).
So far, the derivative regulations on the DDL only concern the land and water.
The DDL is the ability of the environment to ensure the lives of humans and other living creatures and the balance between the two. DTL is the ability of the environment to absorb substances, energy and/or other components released or discarded (by humans). So far, the derivative regulations on the DDL only concern the land and water. However, these two components are sufficient to indicate that the utilization of a space does not trigger land damage, for example land subsidence, as is prevalent near the northern coast of Java.
Likewise, drought around industrial areas is due to uncontrolled industrial drilling of deep wells. The DTL regulates the volume and type of waste disposed of from activities near rivers so that it does not exceed its capacity. Odor, changes in water color, high water quality parameters, such as BOD, COD, and pH, indicate that the environmental capacity is exceeded.
Substandard Spatial Planning
Law No. 26/2007 mandates that the spatial arrangements of the nation, province, regency and municipality conform with provisions of this law and they are to be based on DDL and DTL by 31 December 2010.
The atmosphere of a cement factory construction in the Kendeng Utara Mountains area, Gunem District, Rembang Regency, Central Java, on Sunday (17/8/2014).
The provisions on DDL and DTL are strengthened by Law No. 32/2009, which states that spatial planning must begin with the KLHS, where one of the components that must be used as the basis is DDL and DTL. The problem is: Is the spatial planning that has been prepared at the national, provincial, regency and municipality levels, whose validity period is in 2010-2030 and 2011-2031, already based on the DDL and DTL?
Like it or not, the DDL and DTL provisions will limit the size and type of activities that will use up a particular space. Space for industrial estates, for example, must clear in regard to the number, types and specifications of industries that are allowed to occupy an area.
The Batang Integrated Industrial Zone (in Central Java) is expecting to welcome seven factories looking to relocate from China.
Another limitation is the quota of waste that can be disposed of by each industry, so that it does not exceed the ability of the environment to absorb waste. These two things seem difficult to fulfill if you look at the practice in the field. Industrial estates are very market-controlled, because all kinds of industries can enter, even with the lure of various incentives. The Batang Integrated Industrial Zone (in Central Java) is expecting to welcome seven factories looking to relocate from China.
The industrial estate located in a city in Central Java was originally designed for warehouses, but midway, the project was turned into one for a manufacturing area without certain conditions.
The DDL and DTL provisions, which form the basis for spatial planning, are easy to comply with. In terms of procedures to comply with the provisions of the law, perhaps all RUTRs in provinces, regencies and cities have DDL and DTL permits. However, the DDL and DTL were not internalized in a comprehensive and detailed manner.
Coincidentally, or perhaps deliberately, the area designated as cultivation land, which shows the characteristics of a protected area, is a potential location for industry.
A regency in Central Java has designated a protected area and a cultivation area in its spatial plan (RTRW). However, locals found that in the area designated for cultivation, there were many ponor or soil fractures that indicate it is a recharge area, one of the criteria for a protected area. Coincidentally, or perhaps deliberately, the area designated as cultivation land, which shows the characteristics of a protected area, is a potential location for industry.
The complaints from the spatial planning drafters in the regencies/cities so far center around the unavailability of derivative regulations and technical guidelines, limited data and the difficulty of inter-unit coordination to include the DDL and DTL in a comprehensive spatial plan. Spatial planning taking into account the DDL and DTL aims to ensure that the business plan and activities carried out in a space are sustainable and environmentally sound.
Residents of the North Kendeng Mountains protested the construction of a cement factory in Brati Village, Kayen District, Pati Regency, Central Java, on Sunday (11/5/2014).
Responding to the conflict over the utilization of the North Kendeng area, which includes the regencies of Grobogan, Pati, Rembang and Blora in Central Java and Bojonegoro, Tuban and Lamongan in East Java, President Jokowi at his meeting with the Sedulur Sikep community from Pati regency on 2 August 2016 agreed to resolve the issue using the environmental study, KLHS. KLHS is expected to provide recommendations on which areas are designated as protected areas and which are cultivation areas. Unfortunately, an environmental study that is based on ecological limits has not been used as the basis for revising the provincial and regency spatial plans in all regencies of North Kendeng.
The provisions on the DDL and DTL are suspected to limit regencies’ programs and activities. In fact, the provisions of Article 17 of Law No. 32/2009 stipulate that the environmental study (KLHS) is the basis for spatial planning. Thus, we can predict the quality of spatial planning of the provincial, regency and city administrations.
The problem became even more complicated when the Regional Autonomy Watch (KPPOD) found that only 56 of 514 regencies/cities in Indonesia already owned the detailed spatial planning, RDTR (Kompas, 17/10/2020). Article 15 of the Job Creation Law stipulates that, if a regency/city does not yet have an RDTR, the central government will grant approval for spatial utilization activities in accordance with the spatial planning. If the DDL and DTL in the region’s spatial planning are still artificial, it will be difficult to serve as a guideline for realizing sustainable development with an environmental perspective.
Sudharto P Hadi, Environmental Management Professor at Diponegoro University (Undip); Deputy Chair of the National Research Council
