Ministers support city's low-cost apartment projects<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The ministers of housing, manpower, public works
\nand national development planning agreed yesterday to help the
\ncity administration fast-track the development of its six low-
\ncost apartment projects.<\/p>\n
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the acceleration of
\nthe projects was signed during a ceremony yesterday by Minister
\nof Public Housing Akbar Tanjung, Minister of Manpower Abdul
\nLatief and Governor Sutiyoso.<\/p>\n
Minister of Public Works Radinal Moochtar and Minister of
\nNational Development Planning Ginanjar Kartasasmita were
\nrepresented by assistants.<\/p>\n
The Rp 41.64 billion low-cost apartment in Pluit, North
\nJakarta, will be the first pilot project ever jointly constructed
\nby the city administration and the four ministers.<\/p>\n
The other five projects will be built in Cawang in East
\nJakarta, Petamburan in Central Jakarta, Meruya Selatan in West
\nJakarta, Pengadegan in South Jakarta and Sindang in North
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
There will be a total of 9,376 low-cost units built in the six
\nlocations.<\/p>\n
\"We have set aside Rp 200 billion to Rp 300 billion for this
\nlow-cost apartment scheme. The Ministry of Manpower is interested
\nin joining the project because it is related to the welfare of
\ncity workers,\" Latief said after the ceremony.<\/p>\n
\"Many workers live in slum areas. As part of the city housing
\nrejuvenation program, there is already some Rp 1 trillion set
\naside from the Jamsostek fund in the state-owned Bank Tabungan
\nNegara (BTN) to provide sufficient housing credit services for
\nthe workers.\"<\/p>\n
He urged the municipality to proceed with the projects as soon
\nas possible.<\/p>\n
\"The sooner the projects are completed, the better chance low-
\nincome workers will have to acquire an apartment. It will
\ncertainly be far more decent than living in slums.\"<\/p>\n
Deputy Governor for Economic and Development Affairs Tb.M.
\nRais said construction on the Pluit apartment was scheduled to
\nstart in April.<\/p>\n
\"The Pluit apartment is part of an integrated plan to be
\ndeveloped in North Jakarta, including the rejuvenation of slum
\nareas along riverbanks.<\/p>\n
\"North Jakarta is the estuary of the city's 13 rivers. So it
\nis important to free the riverbanks of slum areas and create
\nbetter homes for the residents living there.\"<\/p>\n
In Jakarta, he said, there are three categories of slum areas,
\nnamely high-, middle- and low-density areas.<\/p>\n
The high-density slums have about 219,000 residents living on
\n465 hectares of land. A middle-density slum, spread over 1,874
\nhectares, is home to 572,000 people while the low-density
\ncategory consists of 500 hectares with a population of 99,000.<\/p>\n
Rais said the municipality had no choice but to proceed with
\nthe kampong rehabilitation program for middle- and low-density
\nslum areas and modernize high-density slum areas by developing
\nlow-cost apartments.<\/p>\n
\"From 1992 to 1997 the municipality has managed to built
\n17,000 low-cost apartment units.\"<\/p>\n
Sutiyoso said the signing of the MOU demonstrated the
\npolitical good will between the municipality and the central
\ngovernment to help low-income people survive this turbulent
\neconomic period.<\/p>\n
\"As instructed by President Soeharto, I want to improve the
\ncity's performance. Therefore, I praise all the ministers for
\njoining this program. We could not have started this project
\nwithout their support,\" Sutiyoso said.<\/p>\n
Akbar Tanjung said the participation of developers was badly
\nneeded but many shirked their responsibility to help construct
\nlow-cost apartments.<\/p>\n
He acknowledged that the previous program, in which private
\ncompanies were invited to build cheap houses on state land
\nwithout evicting local residents, as stated in Presidential
\nInstruction No.5\/1990, did not run as well as expected mainly due
\nto a lack of commitment from the city administration.<\/p>\n
\"Under this cooperation agreement, the project will hopefully
\ncome together quickly.\"<\/p>\n
Tanjung said the city administration could take action against
\n153 developers who failed to abide by their obligation to build
\nlow-cost apartments.<\/p>\n
\"The administration can extend their business permits or just
\nrevoke those belonging to the developers who have not complied.<\/p>\n
\"Don't use the monetary crisis as a reason to avoid your
\nresponsibility (to build the apartments).\"<\/p>\n
Based on Gubernatorial Decree No.540\/1990, developers, who
\nhold permits to clear at least 5,000 square meters of land or
\nmore, are obliged to set aside 20 percent of their projects for
\nthe construction of low-cost apartments. (edt\/ind)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ministers-support-citys-low-cost-apartment-projects-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}