Another delegation of Koja residents visit DPRD

Another delegation of Koja residents visit DPRD

JAKARTA (JP): A delegation which claimed to represent over 500
families of North Koja residents in North Jakarta told the City
Council they are willing to receive lower compensation for their
plots.

The undertaking has been viewed as a move to reduce the land
compensation demanded by another group of residents, which
visited the City Council last month asking for Rp 2.27 million
per square meter.

Y.E. Maladie, the spokesman for the four-man delegation, said
the residents in the community unit of RW 13 are willing to lower
their compensation demands from Rp 2.27 million to Rp 400,000 per
square meter.

"The amount set by the government of Rp 160,000 per square
meter inhumane and unfair," he said during a hearing with the
Council's Commission A on Wednesday.

Maladie said the residents he represents prefer to present
their objection to the current level of compensation, which is in
line with a presidential decree, to settling the case in court.

"We are not brave enough to go to court as many residents plan
to do. But we hope the government will consider our demands," he
said.

Maladie also said that the amount of compensation demanded by
the residents is similar to that of residents of the Rawabadak
subdistrict, North Jakarta.

He added that the Rawabadak residents, whose land is to be
used for the Sunter Dam III project, have received compensation
of Rp 384,000 per square meter.

"Judging from this case, we don't understand why the
government is discriminating against us regarding compensation,"
he said.

The state-owned port company PT Pelindo, in cooperation with a
local private company, intends to build a container terminal on
the 90-hectare plot in the North Koja subdistrict, where almost
40,000 people of 9,037 families live.

City Councilor S. Maryam Ahmad said it will be difficult to
increase the current level of compensation since the government
finances are very limited and rely heavily on the state budget.

However, Councilor Nitra Arsyad of the Golkar faction said the
council will try to look into the possibility of an increase.

He said the private company which will be PT Pelindo's partner
and which is assigned to operate the container port may be
willing to provide funds for the increase.

"We will have a hearing with the company. We will find out
whether the company can provide the funds or not," he said.

Another delegation of Koja residents led by Yoyo Sukarya,
which visited the City Council last month, has also demanded Rp
2.27 million for each square meter of land.

When asked about the new delegation, Yoyo Sukarya said
yesterday that the delegation was actually managed by the North
Jakarta Mayor Suprawito, who is also the head of the committee
for North Koja land acquisition.(05)