Occupancy rate of office building drops to 20-30 percent<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Occupancy rates of office buildings in the capital have
\ncontinued to decrease due to the prolonged economic crisis and
\nare now estimated to reach below 30 percent.<\/p>\n
Dharma Sjachrial Pohan, co-chairman of the Indonesian Building
\nMaintenance Association (APBI), said on Monday that the occupancy
\nrate of buildings in Jakarta, including those in the Kuningan-
\nThamrin-Sudirman central business district, are estimated to
\nreach between 20-30 percent on average.<\/p>\n
\"You can see now that many buildings in Jakarta are now
\nvacant. The condition has been worsening continuously since the
\neconomic crisis first hit Indonesia in 1997,\" Dharma told The
\nJakarta Post on Monday during a break from a seminar on building
\nmaintenance.<\/p>\n
A survey by the building maintenance association in 1977, just
\nbefore the crisis hit the country, showed that occupancy rates of
\nsome 1,300 buildings in Jakarta reached 70 percent, while a
\nsimilar survey in 1999 showed that the occupancy rates declined
\nto 40 percent.<\/p>\n
The low occupancy rate makes the management unable to provide
\nadequate funding for ideal building maintenance, Dharma said.<\/p>\n
Sharing Dharma's viewpoint, Oktosa Harahap of the PT Gedung
\nBankExim said that the financial constrain has caused the
\nbuilding managers to reduce their budgets for building
\nmaintenance.<\/p>\n
\"Such conditions seriously affect the condition of the
\nbuildings. Therefore, we often see many buildings which are not
\nwell-maintained. It can be seen from many parts of the buildings,
\nincluding their rest rooms,\" said Oktosa.<\/p>\n
In the short-term, the streamlining of the building
\nmaintenance could cut financial expenses for the management, but
\nin the long term, it would give negative impact to the condition
\nof buildings, he warned.<\/p>\n
In 1997, a survey on maintenance and management of 40
\nbuildings along Jl. Thamrin and Jl. Sudirman in Central and South
\nJakarta, found that only seven percent met the proper
\nrequirements for building maintenance, Jimmy Siswanto Juwana, a
\nlecturer at Trisakti University, said.<\/p>\n
He believes the condition is worse now.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Thoby Mutis, rector of the University, told the
\nseminar that many of buildings, which are now under control of
\nthe Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), have less value
\nbecause they are not well maintained.<\/p>\n
He said that the government needs to give attention to the
\nproperties, so that their value will not steadily decline.<\/p>\n
\"I think there should be institutions tasked to maintain the
\nstate assets,\" he said.<\/p>",
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