Agency insists on rent increases in Pulogadung

Agency insists on rent increases in Pulogadung

JAKARTA (JP): The city agency which supervises the operation
of small enterprises in the Pulogadung industrial zone insisted
that rent increases for the low-cost apartments it manages were
necessary.

R.O. Singgih, the head of the agency, told visiting city
councillors and reporters yesterday that the increases were
decided by a governor's decree and that he was not in a position
to question or revise the rule.

Last week approximately 200 apartment residents filed a
complaint with the city council protesting against the city
administration's decision to double the daily rent.

The rent, effective Jan. 1, has been raised from Rp 1,000 to
Rp 2,000 for a bachelor-style room and from Rp 1,200 to Rp 2,400
for a family room.

The residents, citing that the small enterprises were paying
them meager wages even lower than the officially set minimum
wages, said they could not afford the higher rents.

Singgih dismissed the claim and believes that they could all
afford to pay the higher rents.

"They told me that they earn Rp 5,000 per day. I think they
can afford the rent," he said, adding that since one room is
normally shared by four workers, each one only needs to pay Rp
500 a day.

Raswan, one of the residents, separately told reporters that
most of them are seasonal workers and that the small enterprises
do not offer them steady jobs.

"It is hard because sometimes we don't have jobs for weeks
which means we do not have any money to pay the rent," Raswan
said.

The two-story apartment building located on Jl. Raya
Penggilingan consists of 117 rooms. It was built to accommodate
workers from the 520 small-scale enterprises in the Pulogadung
complex. About 310 workers are currently registered as residents
of the apartment building, and of these, 200 objected to the rent
increases.

Singgih said rent increases were deemed necessary to help
cover maintenance costs. The rent already includes water and
electricity. "Even with the new rent the authority still has to
subsidize the operational costs of the apartment," he added.

Raswan said the residents are only asking the authority to
postpone the rent increases for three months.

Abdulgani H. Abdullah, the head of City Council's Commission B
on economic affairs, defended the increases in rent as a way for
the authority to cover the deficit.

Abdulgani said the authorities should reorganize the way the
apartments are managed so that it fully supports the objective of
promoting the small-scale industries.

He noted that some of the inhabitants of the small-scale
industries complex have grown in size and that they should move
out and make way for others who genuinely need the place.

Singgih confirmed that there are approximately 1,600 small-
scale companies waiting to join the program in Pulogadung.

Abdulgani also emphasized that the complex has another role to
play -- as a training ground for workers to equip them with basic
industrial skills.

He added that the management should control the complex better
because he noted that some of the buildings have been converted
into stores. "If you don't restrict it, this place will soon
change into a business center," he added.(yns)