Bakrie developer says sorry about school demolition
JAKARTA (JP): The management of PT Catur Swasakti Utama (CSU), the developer of the Taman Rasuna apartments in Kuningan, South Jakarta, said yesterday they regretted demolishing a primary school building to make way for construction.
"It was merely a safety first decision," Tagor Lumbanraja, an executive of CSU, said in a press conference at the City Council yesterday.
Tagor said that rather than endangering the children, CSU preferred to build temporary classrooms and demolish the aging school, which stood on the 3.7 hectare site where the apartment complex is being built.
He admitted that his company has made the mistake of pulling down the old school building without asking for an official permit first.
The City Council summoned and asked executives of CSU to clarify the matter following reports that CSU had illegally appropriated state-owned property, including the school building and an unoccupied 6,000-square-meter shelter on Aug. 11.
CSU is 100 percent controlled by Bakrie Investindo, a holding corporation of the Bakrie business group, whose major shareholder is Aburizal Bakrie, the chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).
It was reported earlier that Kurniasih, the school headmistress, had said that the temporary classrooms had to be abandoned because the project produced thick dust and noise, posing serious health and psychological problems to the pupils.
She later transferred her 334 students from the classrooms CSU had provided to two other schools located nearby which have fewer students and safer surroundings.
Tagor claimed that the physical condition of the buildings was such that they might have tumbled down anytime, particularly when the workers starting to drive piles for the apartments with heavy equipment.
Councilor Sutarno, who chaired the meeting, said that the council could understand such a decision, adding that CSU has agreed to construct better school buildings within its 4,000-unit apartment complex.
"We're glad to inform you that we've been able to settle the matter peacefully," he added.
Prominent officials of Bakrie Group, which include Iwan Hendradi Djarot, an executive of Bakrie Investindo, Teddy Sudiman, the president of CSU, and Siddharta Moersjid, the public relations manager for the group, also attended the two-hour meeting.
Complaints
Togar and Sutarno said they are still waiting for the municipal administration to make a decision as to whether it is a must for CSU to remove the crushing and mixing plant it has set up at the construction site to facilitate the project.
School teachers and councilors earlier complained about the location of the plant, which crushes and mixes stones and cement. The plant, which they complained produces a huge amount of dust, is located only 20 meters from the temporary classrooms.
An official of the city administration said it plans to investigate reports on the demolition.
Moersjid said that it will take CSU one to two years to complete the new school buildings, adding that the apartment complex will have seven primary schools and several high schools.
He said that the marketing objective of the Taman Rasuna apartments is young and middle class executives. "More than 90 percent of the units have been sold. It is not intended to be a posh area," he said, denying reports, which alleged that Bakrie is sacrificing school children for over-privileged Jakartans.
He said that the monthly salaries of the young executives, who had studied abroad and were used to living in apartments, range from Rp 2 million (US$950) to Rp 3 million. (09)