144.8 hectares of Koja land appropriated
JAKARTA (JP): The district chief of Koja, North Jakarta, said on Saturday the land appropriation committee has appropriated one third of 144.8 hectares of land in North Koja subdistrict for a container terminal expansion project.
"Up to now the committee has already appropriated 2,105 plots of land in North Koja subdistrict from the total of 6,500 plots," said Jurthoni.
Jurthoni, who is also a member of the committee, said it has spent around Rp 84.5 billion (US$38.7 million) since the appropriation process began in March.
The North Koja district, adjacent to the Tanjung Priok container terminal, has been earmarked as a new cargo terminal extension site. Over 6,880 families, or 32,785 people,in the 144- hectare area will have to be moved before construction begins.
The new $498-million terminal, the property of PT Pelindo and Humpuss Terminal Peti Kemas III, a company owned by businessman Hutomo Mandala Putera, will begin operating in October 1998.
North Jakarta Mayor H. Suprawito, who is the head of the North Koja land appropriation committee, has offered three options of land compensation, Rp 160,000 (US$74) per square meter for residents whose land is located along the main road, Rp 130,000 for land located on subdistrict streets and Rp 100,000 for land located on alleys.
An official of the subdistrict administration said that the demolition process, which has 13 community units, will be divided into four phases, with the first having already commenced in March and was completed in August. Four community units (RW) were appropriated at the time.
The second phase, which started this month, will wind up in February next year. The third will start in March and last through August 1995. The third is due to commence this month and is expected to be completed in December. The last three phases have targeted to appropriate three RWs each.
Mustopha Subehi, an Islamic primary school teacher whose house was demolished last month, said that the mayoralty and the committee had been inconsistent in implementing the four phases of appropriation.
"It seems that they want to speed up the process of land clearance because the committee has allowed some people, whose areas should have not been appropriated yet, to take the compensation money," he said.
Policy
He said that the committee's policy has succeeded in luring many people including himself into taking the compensation money and forgetting that some of the residents are still fighting for a higher amount of compensation.
He explained that after a plot owner agreed to have his land appropriated, the company and the North Jakarta Mayoralty were to issue a demolition warrant, giving them 30 days to demolish their own houses themselves. After receiving the warrant a plot owner must leave the house within seven days.
However, district chief Jurthoni told The Jakarta Post that the committee's policy over the land compensation money is already fixed.
Mustopha said that the appropriation committee is not only inconsistent but also unfair because there is a house owned by a doctor which already received a demolition warrant a few months ago, but the committee has not as yet done anything to the house.
Responding to Mustopha's statement, Franky Wenas, one of the appropriation committee members said, that the warrant is not an absolute order.
"The committee and the mayoralty will give dispensation to former residents to extend the demolition deadline from two months to three," he said.
He said that to obtain the mayoralty's dispensation a resident should get two recommendation letters. The first is from the committee stating the reason why they need the extension and the second is from the subdistrict administration. The letters should be submitted to the mayor's office.(03)