City claims no losses as schools demolished
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration yesterday clarified confusing reports accusing PT Kredosindo Perkasa of demolishing city administration assets to make way for the construction of its Sudirman Tower Condominium project in Central Jakarta.
"What was demolished by PT Kredosindo were not properties owned by the city administration but those belonging to Perguruan Rakyat foundation," Prawoto S. Danoemihardjo, assistant of City Secretary, told reporters.
PT Kredosindo started demolishing a number of buildings, including school buildings, 20 days ago. This demolition forced over 400 students of elementary, junior and high schools operated by Perguruan Rakyat foundation to move to three other schools.
Prawoto said that the 1,800 square meter plot of land on which the school buildings stood on belongs to the city administration.
The Perguruan Rakyat foundation has been allowed to use the plot and its buildings in replacement of properties on Jl. Salemba, which were confiscated by the administration in the 1960s. The foundation built additional buildings in 1970s.
After visiting the project site on Monday, members of the City Council demanded that the developer not demolish the city's assets before the compensation is determined .
"We will not allow the developer to demolish city assets as the compensation has not been determined yet," Prawoto said.
Recently a similar incident occurred, involving the demolition of school buildings without the consent of the city administration by PT Catur Swasakti Utama, the developer of Taman Rasuna apartment in Kuningan, South Jakarta. Prawoto said the city administration is striving to prevent such an incident from occurring again.
Moved
M.U. Fatommy Asaari, a member of the City Council Commission A for Government, Security and Public order said that the city's properties yet to be demolished on the site include school buildings, a youth center and a subdistrict office.
"Further demolitions need the approval of the City Council," Asaari said, acknowledging that this is a very complicated problem as it is not easy to separate the value of the buildings from the land.
Asaari also said that the foundation has moved its 400 students to three separate schools in Srengseng and Kalibata in South Jakarta and Karet in Central Jakarta because its new school building, built by the PT Kredosindo in Pondok Kelapa, East Jakarta, is not completed yet.
The city councilor said that due to such conditions the foundation did not accept new students at the beginning of the new academic year last July.
Prawoto said that the selection of the new site in Pondok Kelapa is the result of an agreement between the developer and the foundation under the rate of compensation set by the city administration. (yns)