Indonesia refines 575-km Giant Sea Wall master plan

The Indonesian government is refining the master plan for a 575-kilometer Giant Sea Wall (GSW) project designed to combat rising sea levels and severe land subsidence along Java’s northern coast. Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, stated that the mega-infrastructure project will be divided into over a dozen segments stretching from west to east.

Priority will be given to the most vulnerable areas, starting with Jakarta Bay in coordination with the Jakarta Provincial Government. Other critical zones include Semarang, Kendal, and Demak in Central Java, which face significant threats from tidal flooding and sinking land.

Beyond physical concrete dikes, the strategy includes nature-based solutions such as mangrove ecosystem restoration. The minister emphasized that long-term mitigation requires comprehensive spatial planning, including strict regulations on groundwater exploitation and improved upstream watershed management to prevent runoff flooding.