2,500 families targeted for eviction, rehousing
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.