Apartments occupy N. Jakarta historical area

Bambang N. Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Inspired by success stories in many other countries, the Jakarta city administration launched in 1990 a preservation project for various historical sites close to Sunda Kelapa harbor in order to boost tourism in the capital.

But, so far, there has been no significant progress in the project, despite the issuance of three decrees by then Jakarta governor Wijogo Atmodarminto and his successor Surjadi Soedirdja. In fact, only three out of 10 old buildings there have been renovated over the past decade.

At present, two luxury condominiums, the Mitra Bahari towers, occupy the area that should have been preserved.

The permit for the construction of the buildings was issued by none other than Wijogo himself in 1992.

The first decree signed by Wijogo in 1990 ruled that the project covered 81 hectares of land in Penjaringan subdistrict, Penjaringan district, North Jakarta and four islands -- Onrust, Cipir, Bidadari and Kelor -- in the Thousand Islands regency. He said that land and buildings in the area should be protected, while construction of buildings in the area was prohibited unless the developer received a permit from the governor.

In 1993, then governor Surjadi issued a decree to include 9.6 hectares of land at Kampung Luar Batang in Penjaringan subdistrict within the project. He also issued another decree in 1991 on the establishment of the Sunda Kelapa maritime tourism agency.

A city official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, admitted that the administration had issued the permit for the Mitra Bahari towers to attract other investors.

Unfortunately, he said, the development of the two condominiums was not in line with spatial allocations in the Sunda Kelapa maritime tourism project, neither was the design in conformity with it.

Executive head of the maritime tourism agency Martono Yuwono regretted the lack of seriousness in the government's commitment to the project.

He told The Jakarta Post that the project had not been implemented well due to a lack of funds and human resources.

"The renovation of old buildings needs a lot of money," he said.

The city administration allocated Rp 350 million (US$35,000) last year to the project.

A similar project in Baltimore in the United Stated attracted some 18 million tourists annually, he said. The project in Baltimore was imitated by other countries, as in Singapore, Osaka in Japan, Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Barcelona in Spain.

Martono said that in other countries, both regional administrations and the central government gave subsidies to businesses that wanted to renovate old buildings.

"In Indonesia the government merely issues regulations (on the need to preserve historic buildings) without giving incentives to the owners, who want to renovate the old buildings," he said.