Apartment should be promoted intensively

Apartment should be promoted intensively

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja emphasized yesterday
the importance of intensifying the promotion of apartment
buildings to all classes of society.

The governor said that intensive promotion is very important
to encourage Jakartans to live in apartments.

The city administration is aggressively promoting the
apartments as the best solution to the land shortage.

"All city officials must back up the promotion program to help
the city reduce its slum areas," Surjadi said after accepting a
report from the promotion team which consists of representatives
from a number of agencies, including the City Planning and
Development Agency and the housing office.

The governor said find a way to coax Jakartans to move into
apartments is the priority. The public should realize that sooner
or later they will have to live in apartments because they have
no other choice, he said.

"The activity should not only target people who have already
lived in apartment buildings but others who want to move there as
well," he said.

Basically, Surjadi said, apartment buildings are designed to
give people a better place to live. The difficulties in
controlling urbanization has caused an imbalance between the
population and the availability of land, which has led to slums
popping up in various parts of the city.

The governor also urged city-owned housing company PD Sarana
Jaya, and state-owned housing company Perumnas in charge of
managing apartment buildings, to be selective in accepting
operators.

"Don't just let anybody use the space without any permits,"
the governor said.

Meanwhile, head of the City Housing Office, Ongky Sukasah,
reported that most apartments dwellers are people who come to the
city from other provinces in Indonesia who used to live in slums.

A survey conducted by the office shows that most residents are
high school graduates and work on daily contracts with salaries
ranging from Rp 100,000 (US$45) to Rp 250,000 a month.

"Most of them complain that their apartments are too small
compared to their former houses," Ongky said.

The City Housing Office plans to build about 3,150 apartments
a year between 1995 and 2000. (yns)