Dozens of drilled wells construction done by companies in North Jakarta were found by local Environment Agency (KLH) in the period from January to September 2014.

If the construction damaging the environment, the sanction is heavier. The violators could be jailed for 15 years and fined for Rp 15 billion

For information, ban on drilled well construction is set in Bylaw No. 10/1998 on the Implementation and Utilization of Groundwater Tax without Jakarta Governor’s permission. If those companies were proven guilty, city administration has the right to cast sanction in form of imprisonment for six months and fine for as much as Rp 50 million.

According to Mudarisin, Head of North Jakarta KLH, until this September his party has checked 60 companies related to drilled wells construction. Of that amount, 15 companies are proven have built drilled wells illegally and used groundwater without permission.

“If the construction damaging the environment, the sanction is heavier. The violators could be jailed for 15 years and fined for Rp 15 billion,” he stated, Tuesday (9/30).

But, Mudarisin admitted that his party cannot cast the sanction yet to those companies because there is additional verification phase that should be completed on upcoming Thursday (10/2).

“The drilled wells were found by our monitoring team. The team has to give detail explanation first, thus we can cast the sanction,” he explained.

Besides handling those 15 companies, North Jakarta KLH will also continue monitoring drilled wells and the use of groundwater on the coast of Jakarta. As targeted, there are 40 other companies that will be checked due to they are allegedly using groundwater without permission by building drilled wells.