Administration has bold plans for city slums
Administration has bold plans for city slums
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration is setting up a program
with the State Ministry of Public Housing to rejuvenate slum
areas, especially those on state land on riverbanks, Governor
Sutiyoso said over the weekend.
"The city is currently starting to list slum areas which are
badly in need of rejuvenation. We also plan to move residents
living along the riverbanks to better places," he said after the
grand opening of a shopping mall in West Jakarta Saturday.
Over the last five years, the municipality has run a program
to build apartments for low-income Jakartans and relocate
riverbank inhabitants.
"We want to complete the city's program in eradicating slum
areas.
"We want to lift up their lives. Living on the riverbanks is
dangerous. The areas are prone to erosion and flooding,
particularly in the rainy season," Sutiyoso said.
The areas are squalid, he added.
"They live in shacks. They litter, eat and drink, all in the
same place.
"It's a sick way of life and is definitely bad for their
children's health and education."
The plan was revealed when State Minister of Public Housing
Akbar Tandjung announced at the same occasion that his office had
urged developers to help rejuvenate settlements, with particular
focus on those built on state property.
"Many settlements in Jakarta are violating the land use and
city spatial plans. Slums areas are also built on state-owned
land. But we can't just evict the residents," the minister said.
The government is planning to build more low-cost houses and
apartments in Greater Jakarta, which are also conveniently
located along the city's train routes, he said.
"One of the pilot projects is the Parung Panjang housing
complex in Bogor, which was inaugurated by Vice President Try
Sutrisno last month," Tandjung said.
Parung can be reached by train from Tanah Abang station in
Central Jakarta.
There are 35,000 low-cost houses built in the housing complex,
in which 95 percent of the residents work in Jakarta, Tandjung
said.
"They commute to work everyday by train. The vice president
and I took a ride from Tanah Abang to Parung, which took about 45
minutes."
Tandjung said he was awaiting a detailed report from the
municipality before he set any target for the project.
"Basically, we are just implementing the Presidential
Instruction No.5/1990 about the rejuvenation of slum areas built
on a state property," he said, adding that his office would soon
conduct a meeting to discuss the plan further.
Land prices in Jakarta are too expensive, he said.
"That is why we have no choice but to move human settlements
around Jakarta to areas where the price is much cheaper, and at
the same time provide them with transportation facilities."
The city administration has developed three programs on slums;
slum eradication, kampong rejuvenation and a combination of the
two to create better settlements for Jakartans.
Eradication of slum areas entails building low-cost apartments
on slum sites. The kampong rejuvenation program improves the
quality of the environment without evicting residents, while the
combination plan builds apartments to fit the needs of the social
class of the prospective inhabitants.
University of Indonesia sociologist Paulus Wirutomo, who is
involved in developing the city's strategic planning, said the
issue of human settlements constituted endless work.
"I think the municipality is better to take the second and
third approaches because they are more appropriate, and they can
reduce potential social unrest which may be caused by evictions."
Tandjung said his office, together with the municipality,
would consider all alternatives before making a decision.
"Don't worry, we will take all options into consideration.
Whatever the decision, it will be made based on the interest of
the people." (07)