Apartments are the last choice: Professor

JAKARTA (JP): Low-cost apartments are not the only way to solve the city's housing problem, Johan Silas, a professor of the Surabaya-based Technology Institute, said yesterday.

"We should only use low-cost apartments if there are no other feasible alternatives available in a location," Johan told reporters during a break of a two-day seminar on Crowdedness and Health.

The seminar was held by the United Nations Center for Human Settlements, in cooperation with the City Housing Office, the Urban Health Study Group of the Atmajaya University and COWIConsult.

The meeting, which was attended by about 100 participants, was aimed at discussing and disseminating the results of a study on population crowdedness and health.

Johan said that other alternatives to solve the housing problems are the kampong improvement program, which was introduced for the first time in 1968 in Jakarta and Surabaya, and the construction of double-story houses.

He said that even though it is not formally stated, the Indonesian housing policy has a dualistic character. On the one hand it helps people who cannot afford to buy their own houses and on the other hand it provides funds for the improvement of public facilities in kampongs, whose residents have built their houses without any subsidy from the government.

However, he admitted that there are certain circumstances where the construction of low-cost apartments is a must.

"Apartments are not the best alternative but there are certain conditions where they are needed, especially in crowded areas," he added.

Ongky Sukasah, head of the City Housing Office, said at the seminar, "The low-cost apartment concept is still new to all of us but society has already had the initiative to ask for the facilities from the government, such as the one in the Bendungan Hilir subdistrict, Central Jakarta. The local residents, for example, asked Minister of Public Housing to build low-cost apartments."

He said that many experts from other countries made Jakarta as a model, to solve their housing problems.

"The experts wonder why Jakarta, a city with a high population, still manages to control the situation in the city, naturally. They want to know the kind of policy introduced by the city administration," Ongky said.

Answering a question on the many reports of land disputes, due to low compensation from developers of low-cost apartment projects, Johan said, "They happen because the developers do not involve the society in decision making. If they involve local residents, there will be no problems," Johan said. (31)