Bapenda Building Fire: Pramono Ensures Tax Services Remain Normal

Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung has assured that tax services in the capital remain fully operational and unaffected following the fire that struck the Jakarta Regional Revenue Agency (Bapenda) building.

Pramono stressed that all tax databases belonging to the Jakarta Provincial Government have been digitised, meaning they do not depend on physical documents or the condition of office buildings.

“Matters relating to tax data face no problems at all because they have been digitised,” Pramono asserted in South Jakarta on Sunday (9/8).

The digital-based data integration system ensures that the processes of collection, withdrawal, and administration of taxpayer services managed by Bapenda continue to operate as they should.

“Therefore, matters relating to the interests or needs of tax collection and so forth by Bapenda are not disrupted,” Pramono said.

The fire that struck the building on Jalan Abdul Muis is known to have gutted a number of rooms from the 11th to the 16th floor. The flames first appeared on Friday (7/8) at around 9.30 p.m. Western Indonesia Time from the 11th floor area before eventually being extinguished.

The Central Jakarta Fire and Rescue Sub-department extinguished the fire in an area of 30,417 square metres by deploying 40 fire engines and 200 personnel.

Following the incident, the area around the crime scene was tightly secured by 125 personnel from the Metro Jaya Regional Police and 50 personnel from the 0501/Central Jakarta Military District Command.

In addition to the Bapenda office, the building also serves as the operational headquarters for a number of other regional apparatus organisations, including the Transportation Agency and the Human Resources Development Agency.

The Jakarta Provincial Government immediately took swift action by shifting the work scheme for around 1,000 civil servants based in the building to ensure that government services continue without interruption.