City criticized for inaction on work proposals

JAKARTA (JP): The municipality should have asked for proposals of projects considered important to the city before completing the 1985 to 2010 revised spatial plan, a councilor said Saturday.

Councilor Lukman F. Mokoginta said the municipality should not wait for the private sector to hand in their proposals.

"If the revised spatial plan does not include the (proposed) projects, it would be impossible to construct the projects in the near future," Lukman, a member of the city council's commission D on development affairs, said.

He was responding to Friday's presentation on the 1985 to 2010 revised urban spatial plan, which did not include two already- proposed private mega projects: the three-tier transit system and the Manggarai integrated transport project.

The head of The City's Spatial Plan Agency, Ahmaddin Ahmad, said the revised plan did not include the projects because neither proposal had been submitted to the city.

Lukman, who chairs the council's Indonesian Democratic Party faction, blamed the projects' consortia for poor coordination with the city on the projects.

"They (the consortia) know that a spatial plan is a basic requirement for any development in the city, so they should have handed in the proposals to the municipality long before the revision was to be completed," he said.

However he said it was the administration which should approach the consortia for the proposals if they were important for the city.

A member of the Manggarai transport consortium has said the project's design was still being revised to reduce costs.

Lukman said it was still possible to revise the new spatial plan to include both projects, if it were considered necessary, but it would take a long time.

But he said, there was a need for a thorough study to take into account the projects' technical details, land use, economic contributions to the municipality, and impact on the surrounding environment and people before they could be included in the spatial plan.

The spatial plan is revised every five years to accommodate new development progress.

The proposed three-tier transit system includes a 22-kilometer light rail system and 23.65 kilometers of toll road.

Construction is due to start in Bintaro, South Jakarta in December and is scheduled for completion by 2001.

It is to be constructed by a joint venture company, PT Citramoda Margakencana Persada, which consists of PT Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada -- owned by President Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana -- state-owned railway company Perumka and state-owned highway corporation PT Jasa Marga.

In 1995 the chairwoman of the US$285 million Manggarai Integrated Transport consortium, also Mrs. Rukmana, presented the plans to the President.

Friday's presentation was the first on the revised plan. It has to be approved by the Governor, City Council Speaker M.H. Ritonga and Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. before it becomes official. (ste)