Bill on building to be tabled soon

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Public Works Radinal Mochtar said yesterday the government would introduce building laws within the next few months.

The minister said a draft of the laws had been submitted to the House of Representatives for approval.

The construction bill will be an important legal instrument to regulate the country's growing construction business.

The rapid development in the building sector has created problems, many of which could not be solved because there were no specific laws, the minister said.

"The planned law will define all things related to the construction industry; the rights, obligations and responsibilities of all people involved," the minister said in a speech at the national congress of the Indonesian Architects Association in Bali.

The minister predicted the increase in the number of people living in cities would speed up the building sector's growth.

The urban population would nearly triple to 140 million within the next 20 years from 60 million in 1990, he said.

The minister warned that architects had to be good enough to cope with the liberalization of world trade and services.

He said in the free trade era of the next 10 years only those with skills and integrity would survive.

"It is therefore important for all Indonesian architects to prepare themselves for entering the free competition era," he said. "Otherwise they will only become guests in their own country." (jsk)