Bylaw on land clearance licenses 'badly needed'
Bylaw on land clearance licenses 'badly needed'
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration was urged yesterday to
prepare a bylaw to specify the rights and responsibilities of
every developer applying for a license to clear land for
development purposes.
City councilor Ali Wongso Sinaga of the Golkar faction said
yesterday that the bylaw was badly needed to regulate and control
the performances of licensed developers.
"The bylaw will enable the administration to take legal action
against developers they are found to have failed to meet their
obligations," said Ali, who chairs Commission D for development
affairs.
The administration currently has no power to impose anything
other than administrative sanctions on developers guilty of
violating their responsibilities.
"Administrative sanctions, including temporarily suspending
development projects until punitive fines have been paid, is not
enough," he said.
Ali's statement was made in reaction to a move taken yesterday
by Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso. He ordered his staff to set up a
team to investigate all companies granted licenses to develop
vacant land that had failed to meet their obligations to the city
and its populace.
The team will be headed by deputy governor for development
affairs Budiardjo Soekmadi, who will be assisted by the assistant
for administration and development affairs, Onky Sukasah.
Ali underlined the importance for the team to immediately
launch a massive audit program of all developers who held land
clearance permits.
He said it should check whether the areas of land now under
the developers' control were the same areas approved in the
license agreements and whether the developers had met their
obligations to provide compensation for land sequestered and to
develop social and public facilities near the project sites.
Existing data shows that the administration issued a total of
2,189 land clearance licenses in the period between 1971 and
1997. At least 96 of those licenses were subsequently revoked
because of administrative and technical failures on the part of
the holders.
The data also shows that 1,809 license holders are currently
under investigation for failing to fulfill their obligations,
including the payment of fair compensation, and the construction
of public facilities and modest apartments to accommodate those
left homeless by the developments.
Onky said that the establishment of the team indicated that
the administration was willing to take stern action against
delinquent developers.
He said that of the 264 license holders recently surveyed by
the city, only 34 of them had completely fulfilled their
obligations.
"We will ask the others to meet their obligations by paying
off their debts or by claiming an area of their land equal to the
value of their debts," Onky said.
The developers must immediately release the land or else they
would forfeit their claims to the whole site, he added. (cst)