City Hall told to halt demolition

City Hall told to halt demolition

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration is facing opposition to
its plan to demolish a building constructed illegally within the
Bung Karno Sports Complex, Central Jakarta, after the City
Council reneged on its support of the administration's decision.

Commission B for economic affairs recommended that the
administration suspend demolition of the building until the
administration and the Bung Karno Sports Complex management
reached agreement about the issue, the commission's deputy
chairman, Agung Imam Soemanto, said here on Wednesday.

"I blame the administration for the problem, because it only
decided to demolish it after construction was 50 percent
complete," he said during a meeting with Ongki Sukasah, the
development administration assistant with the city
administration.

The owner of the building, PT Anggara, received a permit in
June from the management of the Bung Karno Sports Complex to
build a temporary building on a 7,000-square-meter site as an
exhibition center for small and medium businesses.

However, the company proceeded to build a permanent structure,
using concrete and steel, which requires a building permit from
the city administration.

Previously, Agung expressed his support for the
administration's policy, saying that PT Anggara had violated its
permit conditions.

Agung now says that Commission B should see construction of
the building as a way of helping small and medium businesses to
exhibit their products at a lower cost in the complex, which is
also home to the Jakarta Convention Center.

"The existing exhibition centers fail to accommodate the small
and medium businesses," he said, adding that those companies
could not afford to pay the rate for leasing exhibition space in
Kemayoran or the Jakarta Convention Center.

But Ongki insisted that the administration would demolish the
building because the area where it is constructed should only be
used for sports activities.

The administration commenced demolition of the building two
weeks ago but stopped before it was completely demolished.(04)