ONE month before Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso reviewed plans to build the Eastern Flood Canal in June 2002, Koesnan Abdul Halim was sworn in as Mayor of East Jakarta. One of his tasks was to clear land for that project. However, there is still 70 hectares more land to be cleared. “But we’re going according to schedule,” he told Tempo, last Tuesday.

Why is there an impression that land clearing in East Jakarta is slow?

Until the end of Decemb