ATR/BPN Confirms Tanah Abang Land as State Asset Amid Hercules Claims
The Director General of Land Dispute and Conflict Resolution (Dirjen PSKP) at the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN), Iljas Tedjo Prijono, has confirmed that the land in Tanah Abang constitutes a state asset. The plot is planned to be developed into subsidised housing (rusun) for low-income residents.
Representing the ministry led by Nusron Wahid, he could not confirm whether the verponding rights claimed by the Hercules party are fake or invalid. However, the only registered owner of the land is PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) (KAI), not the heirs of Sulaeman Effendi.
“We cannot say it is invalid. We are only stating that what is recorded with us is in the name of the Ministry of Transportation at that time. Now, it is in the name of PT KAI,” Iljas said after a meeting at the Wisma Danantara office in Senayan, South Jakarta, on Friday (17/4/2026).
Regarding the process to deactivate the verponding claimed by the heirs, Iljas explained that it can be done, but not by the Ministry of ATR/BPN; rather, through court proceedings. If the claim is proven unfounded, the ownership status will automatically be revoked.
“If we base it on the data we have. If it is not with us, we can analyse it. That may not be the domain of ATR/BPN; it is the domain of proof, in court,” he clarified.
The disputed land in Tanah Abang spans 4.3 hectares across three locations. The first location covers 1.3 hectares. The other two locations consist of contiguous plots, also known as clearance land, with a total area of 3 hectares in accordance with HPL numbers 17 and 19.
“We can explain here that the railway land there (Tanah Abang) has three locations. The first is the location at Pasar Tasik according to the ground card, covering 1.3 hectares. Then there are two contiguous plots we call clearance land, Tanah Abang clearance land, according to the certificates HPL number 17 and 19 with a total of around 3 hectares,” revealed the Deputy Director General (Wadirut) of PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero), Dody Budiawan.
The land will be used for constructing subsidised housing (rusun) for residents along the railway embankment in the Tanah Abang area. The dual ownership issue was discovered during a direct survey by the Minister of Housing and Settlement Areas (PKP), Maruarar Sirait (Ara), together with PT KAI and Danantara.
Previously reported, Wilson Colling, Chairman of the Advocacy and Legal Team of GRIB Jaya, explained their ownership status over the land. He stated that the land in Tanah Abang is still owned by the heirs of Sulaeman Effendi, not by PT KAI.
Wilson Colling said the land, which has a verponding right from the Dutch era converted to Indonesian Verponding No. 946, is still occupied by the heirs. Based on a PM 1 certificate issued by the local lurah, from 2004 to 2007 it was physically controlled by the heirs and has been occupied continuously to the present.
Meanwhile, HPL Numbers 5 and 6, which form the basis for PT KAI’s claim that the land is state-owned, were issued in 2008. These HPLs were issued based on an administrative process at the Ministry of Transportation from verponding number 14399, which, according to Wilson, is not located in Tanah Abang.
“If I look at their data, from the conversion by the Ministry of Transportation of verponding 14399, that is not in the land map for that location if it is the conversion of land 14399. That’s why the Director of PT KAI said that the land originates from the grontkaart (land card), but there is no grontkaart there, meaning he did not read the data,” he told detikcom on Monday (13/4/2026).
Regarding Hercules’ connection to the land, Wilson explained that the GRIB Jaya Chairman assisted in regulating illegal occupants. He noted that PT KAI has never controlled the land to date and has never helped regulate the illegal occupants who occupied it from 1988 to 2018.