Land policy needs to be reviewed for public interest<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Land policy must benefit the public interest
\nrather than only facilitate economic growth like the case is now,
\nexperts said Monday.<\/p>\n
To ensure this, land policy must be in line with the 1992 law
\non spatial plans, an urban planner and a land issues researcher
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
One way to do this is to have mandatory public hearings to
\ndiscuss plans for large-scale projects, planner Djoko Sujarto
\nfrom the Bandung Institute of Technology said.<\/p>\n
Djoko and Endang Suhendar of the Bandung-based Akatiga social
\nanalysis center, said separately the 1992 law guarantees
\ncitizens' rights to participate in determining the way space is
\nused so a balance of all interests can be achieved.<\/p>\n
Djoko said authorities' and investors' public exposure of
\nplans would help urban planners.<\/p>\n
\"Planners do not know what public aspirations are in absence
\nof public hearings,\" Djoko said.<\/p>\n
Endang said since the end of the oil boom in the late 1980s
\nland policy has been geared towards boosting economic growth.<\/p>\n
\"Land became a strategic commodity and the government had to
\nfacilitate land provision to encourage private investment,\" he
\nsaid. This led to many land disputes.<\/p>\n
While residents found it increasingly difficult to maintain
\nwhat land rights they had, the government decided developers'
\nlocation permits could be issued in 12 days, Endang said.<\/p>\n
Endang is a co-author of Land as Commodity, A Critical
\nAnalysis on Land Policy of the New Order Government, recently
\npublished by Elsam, the Institute for Policy Research and
\nAdvocacy in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Endang and Djoko said large capital owners' rapid control of
\npotentially high-priced land had reduced chances of land being
\navailable fr less profitable projects.<\/p>\n
Facilities like schools, police and military headquarters and
\ncemeteries now have difficulty existing in cities, they said.<\/p>\n
The experts were responding to plans for a new 30,000-hectare
\ntown in Jonggol, about 50 kilometers southeast of Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Forestry issued permits for the forest area
\nproject last year when consortium PT Bukit Jonggol Asri promised
\nto reforest three West Java sites.<\/p>\n
The consortium's management, which includes Kaestindo Group,
\nsaid it planned to make Jonggol, now a district in Bogor, a
\nsatellite city and new town.<\/p>\n
Djoko said plans for new towns, either satellite cities or
\nself-sufficient cities, must be in line with the national urban
\ndevelopment strategy.<\/p>\n
\"One main point of this strategy is that towns must become
\ngrowth areas for their surroundings,\" Djoko said.<\/p>\n
\"Another is that the town must lead to the improvement of
\npublic welfare in the area\".<\/p>\n
Preparations for a new satellite city must include
\ninfrastructure and facilities linking the city to its mother
\ncity, Djoko said.<\/p>\n
But without a public hearing it would be difficult to know how
\nto meet the national strategy's requirements, he said.<\/p>\n
Although current policy is geared to economic interests, Djoko
\nsaid holding public hearings was still a possibility \"if the
\ngovernment wants to uphold the 1992 law on spatial plans.\"<\/p>\n
The law cannot yet be effective because government decrees to
\nimplement have not yet been issued.<\/p>\n
Djoko said one sign of the government's good intentions was
\nthe recent halt on issuing new permits to developers in Bogor,
\nTangerang and Bekasi to developers.<\/p>\n
Endang said clear spatial plans, without collusion between
\nauthorities and capital owners, were urgent.<\/p>\n
\"But with the stress of land policy supporting economic growth
\nof at least six percent, I fear spatial plans will be designed in
\nline with profit interests,\" Endang said. (anr)<\/p>",
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