City boosts low-cost vertical housing

City boosts low-cost vertical housing

By Yoko N. Sari

JAKARTA (JP): The construction of a low cost apartment on
Jalan Penjernihan in Bendungan Hilir subdistrict, Central
Jakarta, used to be home to 500 families. The 1.5-hectare area
was ravaged by fire on Sept. 9.

In October the fire victims clashed with security officers
when attempts were made to clear the area for the construction of
low cost apartments to accommodate the squatters. When the
squatters dug in the security forces resorted to using tear gas.

Incidents like this happen frequently in Jakarta. Due to the
shortage of land and the inadequate supervision of state-owned
land many people tend to make use of such land by illegally
building houses on it.

When the government announces its intention to use the land,
however, it has to negotiate with squatters. This mostly ends
with the government paying squatters compensation for the land.

As the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta is growing rapidly
and just like any other big city in the world it attracts people
who feel they can earn a better living here.

According to data at the city administration, in 1990 Jakarta
had a population of 8.25 million with a growth rate of 2.4
percent per year.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said the number of residents could
possibly reach 9.2 million if seasonal residents are also
counted.

It is not surprising that many of the seasonal residents stay
in modest houses and shanties in slum areas, which according to
the city development planning board, now cover about 2,880
hectares in the city.

Since he took office in 1992, Surjadi has launched a program
to phase out slum areas and move the dwellers into
vertical housing. This year Governor Surjadi has shown his
consistency in the program.

In October the city administration started the construction of
four low-cost apartment projects with a combined investment
commitment of Rp 57 billion (US$26.13 million).

The four low-cost apartment blocks, three of which are still
under construction, are in Bendungan Hilir, Karet Tengsin and
Jati Bunder, Central Jakarta with another in Tebet Barat, South
Jakarta. By the end of next year there will be a total of 1,100
low-cost apartments available.

The city housing office has stated that each year the city
needs at least 7,500 low-cost apartments to reduce slum areas and
give people self respect.

The city housing office is expected to build a total of 5,000
apartments and the remaining 2,500 by the city-owned property
development company PD Sarana Jaya.

Unfortunately, due to limited funds the city is projected to
be able to build only 3,150 apartments each year from the
1995/1996 fiscal year until the year of 2000.

It means that by the end of this century at least 15,750 low-
cost apartments would have been built in Jakarta. The population
in the city is predicted to reach 33 million by the year 2019.

As demonstrated by the Bendungan Hilir residents, the effort
to provide better housing for Jakartans has not been readily
accepted by slum dwellers. The people initially rejected the city
administration's plan because they suspected their homes were
burned down intentionally to make way for apartments.

They claimed it was too much of a coincidence that the city
administration suddenly planned low-cost apartments right after
the fire razed their houses, which is just what happened not so
long ago in Tebet, South Jakarta, and in the 1980s in Penjaringan
in North Jakarta.

The governor denied the allegation, saying the plan was drawn
up long before the fire.

The governor stressed that sooner or later a great number of
Jakartans would live in apartments due to the ever increasing
shortage of land in the capital.

"By building apartments we can maximize land use and build
public facilities, such as parks and sport fields, all in one
complex," the governor said.

Many people are still reluctant to live in apartments despite
the city administration offering each family made homeless by the
Bendungan Hilir fire Rp 400,000 (US$190) to help them rent
temporary housing pending the completion of the apartments.

Most squatters demanded the city administration pay
compensation for the land they occupied, which is the root of the
problem. Their demands for compensation stemmed from being forced
by city officials to pay property taxes like property owners.

On the other hand, the administration claimed that most
residents of slum areas did not warrant compensation because they
were illegal settlers on state owned land.

That the squatters were paying land taxes does not, according
to the city administration, indicate ownership. They were obliged
to pay taxes for using the land.

Now that the administration has implemented a credit system
for paying for the apartments the people are uneasy about it.

It seems they failed to understand the city's intention of
providing proper and affordable housing for which the
administration has allocated a large subsidy.

According to Ongky Soekasah, head of the City Public Housing,
the price of each unit was set at around Rp 22 million, of which
50 percent will be subsidized. Buyers will pay less than 50
percent of the value price because part of it will be covered by
the compensation paid by the administration when the land was
appropriated.

"Buyers can pay the remainder on an installment basis," Ongky
said.

However, the system has developed a few complications because
the city administration has not yet set the compensation amount.

Residents of Tanah Tinggi low-cost apartments in Central
Jakarta, who just moved in to their new units early this month,
are facing this problem.

They are worried and puzzled over the installments and afraid
that they will have to leave their new homes due to being unable
to meet the payments.

"Yes, I am happy with my new home. Even though it is smaller it
has a better and healthier environment. But now I am worried
about the installments because up until now there hasn't been any
announcement about how much I have to pay," said Mrs. Onah, a
resident of the apartment block.

Perhaps the city administration should create strategies to
make this program acceptable to all. The advantages of living in
an apartment should be aggressively promoted.

On the other hand, tougher supervision of government-owned
land should also be implemented to avoid incidents which in the
end only give the administration a bad name.