'Antara' warned over construction work

JAKARTA (JP): The city museum and restoration agency has reprimanded executives of Antara news agency for the sloppy redevelopment of its old building that has partly cracked the existing buildings in the front of the block.

Head of the agency's program division, Indro Kusumo, said on Friday that his office sent a letter to the city's Building Control Agency two weeks ago urging it to pay greater attention toward the ongoing construction work at the back part of the protected Antara buildings on Jl. Antara in Central Jakarta as it has damaged the three adjoining buildings.

"The construction has also breached our recommendation, which allowed them to construct a building with a maximum height of two stories, instead of four as what they are currently doing," Indro told The Jakarta Post.

According to Indro, the cracks in the existing buildings, also operated by Antara for its photo gallery, resulted from the powerful hammering of the concrete piles for the foundation of the project.

"Cracks have been found at several parts of the protected buildings which could damage them later," he said.

The state news agency currently occupies two separate buildings on the street, both of which are protected under the 1993 Gubernatorial Decree No 475 regarding old buildings in the capital.

The first one was the colonial-style building which has a clock tower on its top. The other is the three adjoining buildings, which have been affected by the ongoing construction work at the back.

The news agency's management had demolished the annexed building at the back and planned to construct a separate four stories building for the agency's office.

Antara chief editor Parni Hadi once claimed that the demolition violated no regulation and the building that had been demolished was not protected.

The agency's secretary Kardiman Soekardi recently said that the construction was based on the official recommendation issued by the city's Building Control Agency even though it's only for a two-story structure.

"But the recommendation also states that we can build a maximum four stories at the site. So we decided to make use of the recommendation," he said.

Contacted separately, head of the agency Hartanto strongly supported the construction, saying that no violations had been found in the work so far.

He also strongly denied that the museum and restoration agency had sent a letter to his office about violation on the construction works.

"We haven't received such a letter," he said. (ind)