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)