City hall to regulate converted homes

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta

With more residential buildings being used as commercial and business spaces, the Jakarta administration will form a special team to regulate these buildings.

"Whether the building owners like it or not, the administration will soon be regulating them," Governor Sutiyoso said at City Hall on Thursday.

The special team will include at least 102 officers representing different agencies in the administration. The team will patrol the city, citing those buildings found in violation of City Bylaw No. 7/1991 on buildings in the city.

The team will be jointly chaired by Jakarta Building Arrangement and Supervision Agency (PPB) head Djumhana Tjakrawirja and Jakarta Public Order Agency head Soebagio.

The bylaw has been little enforced since its passage in 1991, creating the danger that many of these converted residential buildings do not contain the proper safety features required for commercial and business spaces.

According to Gubernatorial Decree No. 867/2004, issued on April 12, the special team will report to the governor.

Soebagio said the team would begin by focusing its efforts on Pondok Indah in South Jakarta and Menteng in Central Jakarta, both upscale residential areas.

"During preliminary observations, we found about 30 houses in Pondok Indah had been converted into commercial spaces. In Menteng, that number was lower," he said.

He said houses in both areas had been converted into educational centers, travel agencies, beauty parlors, cafes, health clinics and restaurants.

"The reason we are prioritizing these two areas is because the number of violations is relatively low. Compare it to Kemang (in South Jakarta), where the practice of converting houses into commercial and business spaces has gotten out of control," he said.

Soebagio said his special team would expand their work into other areas in the city, but did not give a specific time frame.

Djumhana mentioned the upscale Kebayoran Baru residential area as the next area on the team's list.

He said the widespread practice of converting houses into commercial and business spaces was the result of poor coordination among relevant agencies within the administration.

"However, we cannot simply take stern action against the owners of buildings suspected to be in violation of the bylaw. Sometimes the building owners do have permits, just from different agencies," he said.

Djumhana said his agency, the PPB, could be sued by building owners if it interfered in the operation of businesses that had received permits from other city agencies.

The PPB is responsible for issuing building permits. However, other city agencies are also known to issue permits without the knowledge of the PPB.

For example, health clinics at times obtain permits from the city health agency; restaurants, motels, travel agencies and cafes from the city tourism agency; minimarkets and shops from the city industry and trade agency.