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)