City running out of funds to construct cheap apartments
City running out of funds to construct cheap apartments
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration will be able to build
only 3,150 low cost apartments per year, 30 percent of the annual
demand, an official said yesterday.
"The administration does not have the funds to meet the
demand, which is estimated to be 10,500 units annually," said
Nusmardi, head of the apartment control department of the city
housing office.
Nusmardi explained that every year the city needs 70,000
housing facilities, 30 percent being apartments, from low cost to
luxury condominiums.
The establishment of apartments is being boosted by the city
administration to help eradicate slum areas and at the same time
solve land shortage problems in the city.
"About fifty percent of the demand for units is fulfilled by
private developers who build luxurious apartments for the middle
and upper classes, while the rest are built by the city
administration," he said.
He added that due to the limited availability of funds the
city administration plans to build only 3,150 units a year over
the next five years starting in the 1995/96 fiscal year.
Nusmardi said that the city administration will ask the public
to participate in building low cost apartments through self-
participation programs, developer's obligation or cross-subsidy
programs and also from contributions from the central government.
"For example, the development of low cost apartments in Bidara
Cina, East Jakarta, was financed by businessmen who provided Rp
8.5 billion (US$3.89 million) to build apartments there,"
Nusmardi said.
He said that low cost apartments, built under the cross-
subsidy program, are those in Pejompongan, Central Jakarta and
Tebet Barat, South Jakarta, while the building in Bulak Wadon,
North Jakarta, was financed by the central government.
A total of 7,163 low cost apartments have been built in the
city since 1985, with sizes varying from 18 square-meters to 54
square-meters. The city administration is developing another
1,200 units which are expected to be completed next year.
Step by step
Nusmardi also said that the city administration plans to adopt
a step-by-step plan with future low cost apartment projects.
"Under the new strategy the city administration will
appropriate land one year and start construction the following
year," he said.
"We could move residents whose land is to be appropriated to
vacant apartments so that there will be no need for them to rent
housing pending the completion of the construction," he added.
Nusmardi said that this step is expected to run smoothly
because presently there are sufficient apartments to accommodate
people whose land is appropriated.
He explained that this is to avoid any instances, such as that
in Bendungan Hilir where residents strongly opposed the building
of apartments and clashed with security officers.
Nusmardi also said that the city housing office has prepared a
low cost apartment map in the city based on the slum area
directory but it still has to be reviewed again by each
mayoralty.
"The detailed plan we have needs confirmation from each
mayoralty because the areas may have changed," he added. (yns)