2,500 families targeted for eviction, rehousing
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
At least 2,500 families will lose their homes next year when the city administration launches a massive eviction operation to remove squatters who are living along riverbanks, under overpasses and on idle plots of land.
The administration, however, promised that the people would relocated to nearby low-cost apartments provided by the city.
The City Public Works Agency head Fodly Misbach said on Tuesday that around 2,000 families would be evicted from their houses in the vicinity of the Pluit dam, North Jakarta.
"We have to relocate them because they are occupying state land. Besides, we have installed a new pump at the dam to help control floods in the area," he said.
The provision of low-cost apartments will be conducted by the City Housing Agency and the city-run property developer PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro), which has a two-hectare plot of land near Pluit dam.
"We will also evict squatters, who have returned to occupy space at the former Kalijodo brothel complex in North Jakarta," Fodly said.
He said his agency would take over the river widening project in Kalijodo from the former ministry of settlement and regional infrastructure, now called the Ministry of Public Works, as the previous ministry failed to carry out the project.
The project was supposed to start right after the administration acquired the land three years ago. The land acquisition was marred by a violent clash between city public order officers and squatters who refused to move.
Meanwhile, North Jakarta Mayor Effendi Anas said his municipality planned to evict at least 525 families from the riverbanks of Tirem, Lagoa and Pejagalan rivers.
He said those who failed to show their land or building ownership documents would be forced to leave without compensation.
"But, those who show their ownership documents will be relocated to apartments in Cengkareng," he said, referring to the 1,000-unit low-cost apartments built by the Taiwan-based Tzu Chi Buddhist Foundation.
Governor Sutiyoso said his administration and State Housing Company Perumnas had been preparing several plots of land for the construction of low-cost apartments.
"We will use idle land belonging to Perumnas and the now- defunct Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) for the low- cost apartments," he said.
The administration has only allocated Rp 166 billion (US$18.24 million) for the development of low-cost apartments as the larger part of the development funds of the 2005 city budget will be used for transportation and flood mitigation projects.