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.