Apartment building for Tebet fire victims approved

Apartment building for Tebet fire victims approved

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja has agreed to the
controversial city administration's plan to build low-cost
apartment buildings on a 1.8-hectare fire site in Tebet, South
Jakarta.

City Hall spokesman Soesila Darmoadji told reporters that the
governor verbally expressed his approval of the apartment plans
in a limited meeting of ranking city officials on Wednesday when
South Jakarta Mayor Pardjoko brought up the issue.

The 1.8-hectare area was razed by fire on May 11, leaving more
than 1,000 residents of 230 families homeless.

Soon after the blaze, the mayoralty administration ordered the
fire victims not to rebuild their homes there because the land
would be used to develop low-cost apartment buildings.

The fire victims opposed the plan and rebuilt in the area. In
defiance to the city administration's appeal, the area residents
also visited the City Council.

Apparently frustrated by the area residents' fierce resistance
to the apartment plans, hundreds of officials from the mayoralty
administration who were assisted by police and military officers
used force in an attempt to evict the fire victims from the area,
but failed.

A number of city officials were injured in the eviction
effort, which turned into a stone throwing incident following
strong resistance from area residents.

No news was heard from city officials as to the future plans
of the apartment until Wednesday.

A source of the South Jakarta Mayor's office told The Jakarta
Post that the government plans to build two blocks of apartments
on the fire site and three other blocks on a nearby empty plot of
land belonging to the City Office for Social Affairs.

Compensation

Each block will hold 80 apartments, all of which will measure
21 square meters per unit.

Pending the construction of the project, the source said the
230 households were given Rp 400,000 (US$92) in compensation for
each year they will need to rent temporary houses.

Thus far, 15 have taken the compensation money.

"The rest are still negotiating with the mayoralty
administration because they want higher compensation," the source
added.

Previously, Hasibuan, one of the fire victims, said he did not
oppose the mayoralty administration's plan to build apartments,
"but give us reasonable compensation and let's decide whether we
will stay in the apartment."

At the meeting, the governor also gave a directive to Central
Jakarta Mayor Abdul Kahfi to continue a campaign aimed at
persuading Menteng residents to convert houses now functioning as
offices back to houses as city spatial planning designated this
area as a residential area.

Kahfi said so far only 107 of the 212 houses formerly
functioning as offices or stores have been converted to houses by
the owners.

Soesila said the defiant house owners have presented licenses
given by the Jakarta office of the Trade Ministry to operate
business in the houses as the reason not to convert the
buildings. (arf)