Minister to send guilty developers to prison<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Many developers have violated a law requiring them to set
\naside 40 percent of the space covered by housing projects for
\npublic and social facilities such as green areas for parks.<\/p>\n
Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure Minister Soenarno
\nsaid here on Wednesday that the requirement was stipulated in Law
\nNo.4, 1992 on housing and settlement.<\/p>\n
He warned that any developer found guilty of violating the law
\ncould be sentenced to up to ten years in jail. \"I hope we can
\nenforce the law against any violators,\" Soenarno told a seminar
\nlooking into the implications of flooding.<\/p>\n
The minister said a decree he had issued this week asking the
\ncity administration to evaluate all housing projects in Greater
\nJakarta was aimed at uncovering developers who had violated the
\nlaw.<\/p>\n
The ministerial decree also prohibits all heads of
\nadministrations in Greater Jakarta from issuing new permits to
\ndevelopers.<\/p>\n
The minister pointed out that the main requirements for
\ndevelopers were stipulated in article 7 of the law, which states
\nthat developers are obliged to comply with technical, ecological,
\nand administrative requirements, to monitor the environment, and
\nimplement environmental management.<\/p>\n
Other requirements include their obligation to allocate some
\n40 percent of a housing complex to public and social facilities,
\nsuch as green areas for parks, schools, roads and places of
\nworship.<\/p>\n
Soenarno also said developers had violated not only the
\nhousing and settlement law but provisions of the Jakarta
\nmasterplan as well.<\/p>\n
According to the minister, such violations occurred because
\nproperty dealers colluded with government officials, particularly
\nin order to obtain building permits in prohibited areas.<\/p>\n
\"Such permits could only be obtained after intensive lobbying
\nof government officials by the property dealer,\" the minister
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He gave the example of the Kapuk area in North Jakarta where,
\nin the 1980s, there were 3,000 hectares of green area designated
\nas water catchments, whereas by 2001 only 1,000 hectares of green
\narea remained.<\/p>\n
\"2,000 hectares of the green areas have become housing and
\nindustrial zones,\" he said, referring to the Pantai Indah Kapuk
\n(PIK) luxury housing complex and the numerous warehouses near the
\nSoekarno-Hatta airport.<\/p>\n
Head of the City Planning Agency, Setiawan Kanani, admitted
\nthat agency officials often issued permits for housing projects
\nin prohibited areas after being pressured by their superiors and
\npowerful businessmen.<\/p>\n
\"In the past, we were forced to issue such permits as there
\nwere instructions from our superiors,\" said Setiawan, without
\nidentifying individual officials.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Indonesian Real Estate
\nAssociation, Yan Mogi, said that developers should not be blamed
\nfor violations of the masterplan.<\/p>\n
Yan argued that developers constructing housing complexes did
\nso on the basis of permits issued by the authority.<\/p>\n
\"We should not think about the process of how we obtain the
\npermits,\" he said, ignoring the possibility of collusion between
\nbusinessmen and government officials.<\/p>\n
Yan, however, did say that his organization supported the
\ngovernment's plan to evaluate all projects in the capital, saying
\nthat the association would not protect members who were found
\nguilty of violating the law.<\/p>\n
Commenting on Yan's denial, chairman of the Jakarta chapter of
\nthe Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Ahmad \"Puput\"
\nSafrudin, said that developers should assume the moral
\nresponsibility for environmental problems.<\/p>\n
\"Although legally the developers did not violate any
\nregulation, they have a moral responsibility for the damage to
\nthe environment as they build housing projects in areas which are
\nnot in line with environmental principles,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The Housing and Settlement Law Article 36:
\n(1) Anyone or any institution found intentionally violating the
\nprovisions of article 7 paragraph (1) .... can be jailed for up
\nto 10 years and\/or fined up to Rp 100 million.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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