A collapsed house, only its frame and roof tiles remaining, leans in a row of abandoned, partially submerged houses on July 30, 2025, in Bedono village, Demak regency, Central Java, where climate change has contributed to a massive loss of coastal land. - AFP
JAKARTA: As the northern coast of the world’s most populous island continues to sink steadily, President Prabowo Subianto has moved to realise a decades-old plan to build the so-called Giant Sea Wall on Java by establishing the Java North Coast Management Authority (BOP Pantura).
Yet doubts linger over whether a single body can manage one of the most ambitious construction projects in the country amid concerns that it might only add another bureaucratic layer to the continually expanding Prabowo administration.
The President has advocated for the mega seawall since his tenure as defence minister under his predecessor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
Since taking office in October, he has expanded the plan from a coastal barrier in Jakarta, one of the fastest-sinking cities in the world, into a 500-kilometre megastructure to protect flood-prone communities from Banten to East Java.
Prabowo described the seawall as “vital infrastructure” at an event on June 12 and a day later, included it as a national strategic project in the 2025-2029 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN).
The project moved a step closer to reality on Monday when the President appointed Deputy Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Didit Herdiawan Ashaf to head BOP Pantura.
Didit, a former deputy chief of staff of the Indonesian Navy, is to lead the new agency along with two deputies: Darwin Trisna Djajawinata, formerly with state sovereign wealth fund Danantara, and Suhajar Diantoro, a former secretary-general of the Home Ministry.
According to State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi, BOP Pantura will be responsible for designing, building and managing the mega seawall as part of the government’s wider efforts to tackle land subsidence and coastal erosion.
“Studies show that the northern coast of Java experiences land subsidence every year. Some areas are also regularly hit by tidal flooding. With nearly 20 million people living along the coast, the situation requires immediate action. That’s why the agency was established,” Prasetyo said on Aug. 25, in a YouTube video posted to the Sekretariat Presiden (Presidential Secretariat) channel.
Coordinating Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, who chairs BOP Pantura’s steering committee, said the first task would be to finalise a comprehensive road map for the project, drawing on earlier plans by his office and other agencies.
“We want to align and accelerate these efforts because this is a massive, long-term project involving many stakeholders. It will also require investment and the active participation of local leaders,” he said on the sidelines of the Indonesia Summit 2025 on Wednesday, as quoted by Antara.
The Giant Sea Wall is expected to take around 20 years to complete and an estimated cost of US$80 billion, more than double the projected $35 billion price tag for Nusantara, the ongoing capital city development project in East Kalimantan, which is also intended to ease pressure on a sinking Jakarta.
Public policy expert Trubus Rahardiansyah wondered whether the government had laid enough groundwork for BOP Pantura to handle a project of such a “monumental” scale.
“Addressing land subsidence along Java’s northern coast is urgent, but the problem spans multiple sectors. Consolidating it under a single body feels premature at this stage, especially if [Prabowo] has not issued implementing regulations that clearly define the body’s scope,” said Trubus.
BOP Pantura would likely focus on the technical aspects of drafting early stage plans for the seawall, he said, while the broader responsibility of coordinating various ministries would fall under the senior infrastructure minister.
“The real challenge is getting the ministries, which have long focused on their own responsibilities in the program, to move beyond sectoral boundaries and work under BOP Pantura, and that’s where Agus must take the lead,” Trubus said.
In addition to BOP Pantura, Prabowo also launched the Mineral Industry Agency during Monday’s ceremony.
With the growing list of new bodies and the largest cabinet in decades, concerns are mounting that the current administration is becoming increasingly bloated. Wasisto Raharjo Jati, a political analyst with the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), said the President’s tendency to create new government bodies reflected a political compromise between keeping his big-tent coalition satisfied with cabinet appointments and entrusting technocrats with implementing his priority programs.
“Prabowo has established himself as a project-driven president. He trusts specific government bodies led by his trusted people more in running his programs, while ministers who are political appointees do the oversight,” he said on Thursday.
But with each new body straining the state budget amid the administration’s austerity policy to finance other flagship initiatives, including the free nutritious meal program, Wasisto warned that Prabowo’s strategy could backfire and public perception could sour if these bodies failed to deliver swift results.
“Every new body requires a shift in budget allocation. If that comes at the expense of public service programs, public criticism will only intensify,” he said. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
