The Great Garuda: Jakarta's Unfinished Vision for a Climate-Proof Coast

Key facts

• The Great Garuda was a proposed coastal intervention shaped like Indonesia's national symbol, intended to protect Jakarta from floods while creating new land.
• The 2015 NCICD Executive Summary proposed an offshore dike and reservoir system, integrating coastal protection, water management, reclamation, transportation, and economic development.
• The plan linked land production to infrastructure finance, using a percentage of developers' profits from the 17-island reclamation to cross-fund public infrastructure.
• Research conducted between 2017 and 2023 with fisher communities in Kamal Muara and Muara Angke documented displacement and changes in territorial access due to reclamation.
• Golf Island, built on reclaimed territory, is an example of gated, island-based urban enclaves.
• Recent research on Muara Angke identified degradation of mangrove ecosystems alongside reclamation, land conversion, and pollution.
• In 2025, Indonesia's Ministry of Public Works reiterated plans for a Giant Sea Wall along the northern coast of Java, with a projected length of approximately 946 kilometers.
• The Great Garuda's spectacular form has receded, but the underlying coastal problem remains, with NCICD coastal defense now appearing as seawalls, dikes, pumps, and incremental protection.