City administration vows to restore parks<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration has vowed to restore the
\ncapital's parks and green areas to their original function by
\nremoving buildings that have been constructed on them.<\/p>\n
Deputy Governor for Administration Affairs Idroes acknowledged
\nyesterday that many of Jakarta's parks and green areas have been
\nused for buildings, including schools, and stalls for years. He
\nsaid that all such structures will be demolished over time.<\/p>\n
\"Things will be carried out gradually. The first target will
\nbe the green areas now being used as building sites without
\npermits. The second target will be the buildings standing in the
\nparks and green areas on the basis of mayoralty permits,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Idroes said that, in the case of buildings erected with
\npermission from the mayoralty, the administration would wait
\nuntil the permits have expired before reclaiming the land.<\/p>\n
\"We cannot demolish the buildings while the permits are still
\nvalid,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Idroes cited the green area adjacent to Jl. Perintis
\nKemerdekaan in East Jakarta as an example. The traders occupying
\nthe land have obtained permits from the mayor for their stalls,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
The green areas had been used illegally by traders for years
\nbefore the mayoralty issued the land-use permits, he added.<\/p>\n
\"Gradually we are returning the areas to their original
\nfunction by not renewing the traders' permits,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Deadline<\/p>\n
Last week, the city public order office announced that it
\nwould not be able to meet the February 1996 deadline set by the
\ncity administration for the clearing of buildings from parks and
\ngreen areas because many of the structures in question were
\nprotected by mayoralty permits.<\/p>\n
Examples of such buildings include the community unit
\nsecretariat office (Sekretariat RW) in a park on Jl. Ternate,
\nCentral Jakarta, and a school occupying a park on Jl. Tebet Timur
\nDalam VIII in South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Efforts to return the city's parks and green areas to their
\noriginal function have encountered difficulties for the past five
\nyears.<\/p>\n
In 1990, a city councilor of the Indonesian Democratic Party
\nfaction, Romulus Sihombing, said that the city administration,
\nboth singularly and in cooperation with the private sector, was
\nto blame for the disappearance of Jakarta's parks and green
\nareas.<\/p>\n
The councilor urged the administration to be consistent in
\nmaintaining the parks and green areas. Among measures he called
\nfor was the administration's refusal to issue new permits for
\nfuture building plans on land designated as a park or green area.<\/p>\n
Jakarta has 465 parks covering an area of 3,300 hectares, or
\n12 percent of the city's total area.<\/p>\n
The city parks office says that during the 1993\/1994 fiscal
\nyear it returned 52 parks and green areas to their original use.
\nIn the 1994\/1995 fiscal year 14 such areas were restored to their
\ndesignated function. In the current fiscal year, the parks office
\nplans to restore a further 10 parks and green areas. (yns)<\/p>",
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