500,000 homeless as Jakarta faces housing needs<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The capital has a hard time meeting housing
\nneeds with around 500,000 homeless people, a housing agency
\nofficial said.<\/p>\n
The main problem was not only anticipating higher population
\ngrowth, but also meeting the needs of the thousands of families
\nevicted to make way for government or private projects, Nusmardi
\nhead of the housing agency's development control said Monday.<\/p>\n
Based on the agency's 1995 figures 478,600 of Jakarta's 7.5
\nmillion people were homeless. With an average annual two percent
\ngrowth there would be about 500,000 homeless now, he said.
\nJakarta is now home to about 9 million people.<\/p>\n
\"But what is difficult to predict is the number of people who
\nwill be evicted. Fire victims must also be taken into account,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
The figure might not include the families in shacks along
\nriver banks and railways, he said.<\/p>\n
Each year the agency aims to provide 70,000 homes including
\nlow cost houses and apartments. It hopes to meet housing needs in
\n15 years.<\/p>\n
\"But we can only meet a little more than half the annual
\ntarget,\" he said.<\/p>\n
On Monday President Soeharto said the government allocated Rp
\n1.5 trillion to support the building of 110,000 low-cost houses
\nnation-wide in the 1997-1998 period.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile failure to meet the target means the number of
\nhomeless just keeps growing, he said.<\/p>\n
This is why the agency supported a National Development
\nPlanning Board (Bappenas) proposal for compensation to be
\nprovided in public projects which affect more than 20 homes.<\/p>\n
He said the proposal was made during a July seminar on a
\nsustainable Jabotabek (Greater Jakarta). Evicted residents
\ncomplaining to the city council, for instance, are often told
\nthey have no right to compensation from public projects.<\/p>\n
However a legal expert at the seminar, Koesnadi
\nHardjasoemantri, said a 1993 presidential decree on land
\nacquisition for public interest infers landowners have a right to
\nbe paid market rates.<\/p>\n
At the seminar World Bank consultants also said vital
\ninfrastructure projects like the Flood Control system would
\ncontinue to be delayed because residents would continue to resist
\nunless they got adequate compensation to move elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\"We supported the Bappenas idea because when people cannot
\nafford to build homes again they add to our burden,\" Nusmardi
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Nusmardi said the agency still hoped the private sector would
\ntake a role in building cheap houses or apartments.<\/p>\n
The agency only manages to build about 3,000 of its annual
\ntarget of 10,500 cheap apartments while the state-owned housing
\ncompany, PT Perumnas, builds an average 2,000 apartments. The
\nremainder should be built by the private sector. However private
\ndevelopers say they would cost too much to build low cost homes
\ndue to land prices and other fees.<\/p>\n
A 1992 gubernatorial decree rules private developers who build
\nluxurious apartments must allocate 20 percent of their land for
\nlow cost apartments.<\/p>\n
Nusmardi said the housing agency now planned to build more low
\ncost apartments for rent, rather than for sale.<\/p>\n
\"It is difficult to monitor people transferring their
\nownership rights,\" he said. Several low cost apartments have been
\nsealed by the agency because it was discovered ownership had been
\nillegally transferred to others.<\/p>\n
Ownership of low cost apartments may not be transferred
\nbecause most were built for fire victims and former slum
\nresidents. However many people transfer their ownership rights
\nsaying they can no longer afford the monthly installments and
\nmaintenance costs. (anr)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/500000-homeless-as-jakarta-faces-housing-needs-1447893297",
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