Central Java slum strives to improve living standards

Gabriel Waskitha, The Jakarta Post, Semarang

After a four-year urban development project in the Bandarhardjo slum area of Semarang, Central Java, residents are no longer living in crude huts without electricity, fighting annual floods while dealing with being isolated from the rest of the city.

The area now hums with economic and social activity that did not exist before the project began. A majority of residents work as scavengers, ojek drivers and part-time laborers at the Tanjungemas Port. A small number of them, mostly women and young men, are employed in factories, while most of the children attend school.

The dramatic changes in Bandarhardjo occurred after the Semarang municipal administration, in cooperation with foreign municipalities and local non-governmental organizations, began an integrated community development project to fight poverty in the area.

The recent presentation of the Dubai International Award by the Dubai municipality in the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations Human Settlement Program (UN Habitat) to the city administration attests to the success of the program.

Sultan Qasim, director general of the Dubai municipality, and Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, UN Habitat executive director, presented the award to the Semarang mayor here recently.

Andy Siswanto, chairman of the urban development project in the slum area, told The Jakarta Post over the weekend that the award was presented in recognition of the city administration's contributions to improving the living environment in the slum area.

"The award is a sign of the international appreciation for the municipal administration's concrete actions in fighting against poverty, backwardness and illiteracy in the city," he said.

For decades, Bandarhardjo, a Javanese word meaning a prosperous seaport, has been among the poorest and most squalid areas of Semarang.

"In the past, Bandarhardjo was associated with overcrowding, poverty, social disorganization, backwardness and isolation," said Andy. "The slum area, some 15 kilometers northwest of the city center, was very crowded, with the 53-hectare area home to 19,000 residents living in 1,322 huts."

Describing the slum before the development project began, Andy said the residents faced very complicated social problems stemming from their poverty.

The land they lived on belonged to state-owned company PT Pelindo and was located below sea level, so it flooded every year, he said.

He said the community was made up of scavengers, hoodlums, thieves and their families.

"There was no power or clean water. Most men were involved in gambling and children did not attend school.

"It is surprising that the community grew so rapidly considering its problems with population, crimes, drug abuse, illiteracy and backwardness," he said.

Andy said the isolation of the community contributed to the fact that 90 percent of the residents were living below the poverty line.

"Residents had no access to banks or financial institutions to help develop small businesses," he said.

Andy said the situation began to change soon after the municipal administration launched the development program in 1996.

The project was carried out in cooperation with local NGOs and village cooperatives, including the Pancangsari Self-Support Group, the Fish Processing Cooperative and the Business Study Group.

To help finance the project, the local public works office donated Rp 1.1 billion, the municipal administration contributed Rp 2.8 billion and the World Bank granted Rp 6.6 billion.

Residents of Bandarhardjo now have access to clean water, electricity and transportation. Many of the adults in the area have work and the children go to school.

While the area and its residents still have problems they must cope with, the situation is much brighter than it was four years ago.