Central Java slum strives to improve living standards

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.