City hall to regulate converted homes
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.