Speech by Melanie Schultz, at the Round Table on Coastal Development, Borobodur Hotel, Jakarta

Toespraak | 02-04-2014

Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
Our countries are more than 11,000 km apart.
That's a flight of at least 14 hours.
The time difference is 6 hours.
Your country has mountains, rice paddies and jungle. Ours is quite flat.
And yet, we Dutch feel very much at home here. We feel senang.

The reason is related to today's theme: the battle against water.
Flood management, land reclamation, subsidence: these are all topics that we're familiar and comfortable with.
We have to be.
1/4 of our country is below sea level.
Without dikes, dunes and dams, water would reclaim 2/3 of the Netherlands: our country's economic heart, where 9 million people live and where we earn 70% of our GNP.
In the course of 8 centuries we have built up a lot of knowledge and expertise.
And some of our leading experts are here today!

My delegation includes 18 companies and research institutes.
Most of them are well acquainted with your country. Some are still fairly new and want to gain a foothold here.
All of them see excellent opportunities for more intensive cooperation.

The challenges that your country is dealing with are impressive.
This morning I visited the Jakarta coast.
The visit was too short in time to fully understand your water challenges. But it was long enough to get a good idea of the risks facing this city.

In greater Jakarta, flooding is a major problem with many causes.
Water from up-stream catchment areas.
Heavy rainfall combined with many years of overdue maintenance.
Increasing urbanisation, with water management unable to catch up.
But also substantial land subsidence due mainly to groundwater abstractions.

All this calls for action and international cooperation.
That's why we're here! Not only the Dutch - other international experts are also present today.
In 2008 Indonesia asked the Netherlands to help protect Jakarta. To work with you in developing flood management plans for the city.
This resulted in the National Capital Integrated Coastal Development (NCICD) project, which has produced a Master Plan.

A Master Plan that is the topic of our meeting today.
The initial project brief addressed some important issues:

• The plan should guarantee safety from flooding for some 4 to 5 million inhabitants by 2025.
• It should lead to an integrated solution, and be coherent with all other major developments in Jakarta and beyond.
• And it must be designed in such a way that it can accommodate economic benefits.

And now there is the Plan: 1,400 pages full of ambition!
And full of creative solutions, like the outer sea wall in the shape of your national symbol, the Great Garuda.
I am really proud that we can present this plan here today. It is a result of a joint collaboration by Indonesian and Dutch experts.

I have been told that the master plan is ahead of schedule due to the Indonesian government's wish to accelerate the project.
I am interested to hear how the Indonesian government is participating in this process and the roles of other stakeholders.

Ladies and gentlemen,
The participants in the NCICD have already done a lot of groundwork to make Jakarta more resilient; we can now develop it further.

Allow me to share with you 2 Dutch insights into water management that could offer some starting points for a next step.
First the institutional setting. In my experience this is a crucial success factor in major infrastructure projects.
These are once-in-a-lifetime projects that cannot be carried out alongside daily tasks.
In fact, projects like these need a dedicated trusted entity that is mandated to work across sectors, and involves all relevant stakeholders.

The dedicated entity that we established for this purpose in the Netherlands is called the Delta Programme.
It provides the financial and substantive basis for flood safety.

The second insight is cooperation. It is the key element of our Dutch system. Cooperation between government, the private sector and the knowledge sector.

I am convinced that strong international cooperation is required for the NCICD.
So I am happy to see participants from around the world at this international round table.
I am convinced that a project on this scale can only be realised by large consortia of Indonesian and international parties.
With this in mind I call upon our collective resourcefulness to make the NCICD work.

Ladies and gentlemen,
Indonesia is special.
The speed at which Indonesia must adapt spatial planning and water management to its growing population and economy is unique.
So we have great respect for what Indonesia has achieved.

I am convinced that there is great potential for active partnerships between Dutch, Indonesian and other parties.
I have every confidence in the partnership between our 2 countries.

This reminds me of a famous remark by Cornelis Lely, who designed our longest causeway, the Afsluitdijk.

'A country that lives, builds for its future.'

That is what wé do.
And that is also what we like to do together with you.

Thank you.