Why Sigh?
Waisai (pronounced as above) is the new capital of the Raja Ampat regency. You would think with the opportunity to create a capital city from scratch, you would make sure you got it right… learn from past mistakes, or mistakes made in other places, and be able to create something inspired... incredible…
Disappointingly, not the case here…. Unfortunately there are plenty of reasons to sigh in exasperation when you visit Waisai. The rate of growth is entirely uncontrolled and the cause of so many issues, planning is helter-skelter and driven by corruption… I won’t stop short of calling it a disaster, much more so because it is the gateway to the relatively pristine area of Raja Ampat. Garbage fills the streets and waterways. Where healthy mangroves were just 2 years ago, with clean clear water, now sit puddles of murky malaria-carrying-mosquito-breeding mud. The beachfront, which was a nice blacksand beach, was reclaimed - extended out into the sea, and then because of course it was immediately damaged by wind and wave action, a hideous seawall was built, and behind it filled in with white sand (brought from other beaches, which, duh, now have serious erosion issues)… do I need to even mention the state of the current sea wall?
When you look around Waisai, you don't feel like you're in Raja Ampat, let alone Papua. Everyone I speak to one the street has moved here from other provinces within the past couple years. I have written previously about the effects of transmigration on nature conservation, and I think Waisai is proof!
When you look around Waisai, you don't feel like you're in Raja Ampat, let alone Papua. Everyone I speak to one the street has moved here from other provinces within the past couple years. I have written previously about the effects of transmigration on nature conservation, and I think Waisai is proof!
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