Don't consider changes in land use taboo: Rais<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): City development, guided by its urban spatial
\nplans, must now consider the need to attract investment to raise
\ndevelopment funds, Deputy Governor for Economic and Development
\nAffairs Tb. Rais said.<\/p>\n
Investment needs and more attention to public interest could
\nlead to changes in land use, he said yesterday, as long as
\nchanges were based on \"responsible\" evaluations.<\/p>\n
Changes in land use should not be considered taboo, because
\ncities always change, Rais said on the issue of revised urban
\nspatial plans. The plans are neither \"static\" nor \"sterile\", he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"We must have ways to attract investment,\" Rais said.<\/p>\n
Managing a city, he said, needs \"cash flow\" like a company.<\/p>\n
\"Without investment, where would we get funds to maintain
\ninfrastructure?\" Rais said.<\/p>\n
The city is currently finalizing a revision of the 1985\/2005
\nspatial plans, to become the 1985\/2010 spatial plans. Revision
\nwas considered necessary to meet developing needs of the city.<\/p>\n
Executive director of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation,
\nZumrotin K. Soesilo, said earlier the city should not bow to
\nparties with political or economic clout to change spatial plans
\nto their benefit.<\/p>\n
She said the city should be consistent and not change spatial
\nplans too easily, as it would cause the insecurity of some people
\nliving here.<\/p>\n
The draft of the revised spatial plans was presented for the
\nfirst time last week to Governor Surjadi Soedirdja and other
\nexecutives.<\/p>\n
Rais said if there were any changes in the spatial plans, they
\nwould have to be based on \"responsible\" evaluations and go
\nthrough legal requirements. These would include approval from the
\ngovernor, the minister of home affairs and the new City Council
\nformed after the general election.<\/p>\n
The concept of the urban spatial plans used to be \"very
\nidealistic\", Rais said. City areas planned had strictly adhered
\nto office, residential and commercial zones.<\/p>\n
But now this has been considered unwise, Rais said, adding
\nthat now the city tried more to accommodate for social factors.<\/p>\n
\"Is it wise to allocate an area just for office space?\" he
\nsaid. \"After office hours the area becomes scary. Now we prefer
\nto mix development,\" he said.<\/p>\n
City development, he said, no longer adheres to strict
\ndesignated land use, in view of people's needs.<\/p>\n
\"Hopefully we could reduce the time it takes for people to
\nreach workplaces,\" Rais said.<\/p>\n
Density of an area would receive more attention, he said, in a
\nbid to ease traffic.<\/p>\n
For instance, in areas like Kemang, South Jakarta, he said,
\nthe city was now evaluating the appropriate portion of
\n\"supporting facilities\". According to current spatial plans
\nsupporting facilities are allowed in residential areas.<\/p>\n
\"The problem is whether the area really needs 20 drug stores,
\nfor instance,\" Rais said.<\/p>\n
He added that current spatial plans not only mark residential
\nsites, for instance, but also areas with potential development
\ngrowth.<\/p>\n
But he added that the plans would designate certain areas in
\nwhich further development was prohibited, such as along the outer
\nring roads.<\/p>\n
On the exclusion of two new transport proposals in the revised
\nplans, Rais said they might not be on the new map, but they would
\nbe in the new spatial plans document regarding transportation
\nconcepts.<\/p>\n
He was referring to both the Manggarai bus and train station
\nand the three-tier transit system.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile yesterday, a lawyer who heads the land division of
\nthe Jakarta Legal Institute, Waskito Adiribowo, said regardless
\nof spatial plans, lower-income people would likely become more
\ninsecure.<\/p>\n
\"Much of city development will happen on state-owned land on
\nwhich many lower-income families live.\"<\/p>\n
Similar to the Indonesian Consumers Foundation, Waskito said
\nthe public should have more access to spatial plans. (ste\/anr)<\/p>",
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