Tangerang Sea Fence Polemic, UGM Expert: There Are Indications of Sea Conversion Efforts into Land

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Geospatial Expert from Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) spoke about the polemic of the in Tangerang. The sea fence became the public spotlight at the beginning of this year because the installation of 30.16 kilometers of bamboo made it difficult for fishermen to catch fish.

According to Geospatial Expert from the Department of Geodesy, Faculty of Engineering, UGM, I Made Andi Arsana, said that the coast in the north of Tangerang is an archipelagic water so that its sovereignty cannot be owned by individuals or companies. This is based on international regulations or UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).

"Indeed, there was once a Coastal Waters Business Right (HP3) which regulates the control of marine space based on Law Number 27 of 2007, but the HP3 was canceled by the Constitutional Court (MK) because it did not meet the rules of justice," explained Andi as reported on the official UGM website.

Andi also said that the spatial management policy is still not understood in its implementation. "Understanding of spatial management policies is very clearly not apparent because the fencing is not in accordance with the spatial planning and coastal and marine zoning of Banten Province," said Andi during the Journalist School activity, Thursday, January 30, 2025.

Andi also refuted the claims of several parties who said that the sea fence in Tangerang was previously submerged land. Andi said that he and his team had conducted a study using data in the form of satellite image archives which showed that the area had indeed been part of the waters since long ago.

Imagery data from Andi's team's research showed that since 1976 the coastline was still hundreds of meters from the current location of the sea fence. A similar thing was still visible until 1982, although there were a number of land certificate claims, satellite imagery showed that the area had never become land. "So actually in this case there is an indication of an attempt to convert the sea into land in various ways," said Andi.

Andi and his team then traced the certainty of when the sea fence first appeared from satellite imagery. Based on Sentinel 2 data, construction is estimated to have occurred since May 2024 because in June a 6-kilometer sea fence was built, which continued to increase to 6-7 kilometers in July 2024. This will continue until November with the gradual addition of the length of the sea fence.

"Based on international law, there should be no ownership rights (SHM) or building use rights (HGB) in these waters because the privatization of the sea will have an impact on fishing communities who use the sea as their living space," he said.

Andi emphasized that the granting of rights to coastal land in Tangerang has become a problem due to errors that have occurred since the beginning of the certificate application. Andi also explained the parties who might be involved in this polemic, starting from individuals and legal entities as applicants, the Spatial Planning Service or Regional Government, National Land Agency (BPN) surveyors and private surveyors, as well as related Ministries or institutions.

"What needs to be remembered is that individuals or legal entities should not be allowed to change the sea zone into a reclamation area without permission," said Andi.

Previously, the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning (ATR)/Head of the National Land Agency (BPN) Nusron Wahid then revealed that there was the issuance of Building Use Rights and Ownership Rights Certificates right at the sea fence location.

The 266 SHGBs included 234 plots in the name of PT Intan Agung Makmur, 20 plots in the name of PT Cahaya Inti Sentosa, and 9 plots in the name of individuals. Both companies are subsidiaries of which is also the developer of PIK 2

Yudono Yanuar contributed to the writing of this article.

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