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)