City set to convert 32 gas stations into public parks
City set to convert 32 gas stations into public parks
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta administration has decided not to extend the
permits for six of the 32 gas stations occupying land designated
as green areas in the capital.
"We will start turning six gas stations into parks next year,"
said Jakarta Parks Agency head Sarwo Handhayani during a hearing
with City Council Commission D for development and transportation
affairs.
Handhayani said the gas stations included the two located on
the median strip of Jl. Hayam Wuruk in Kota, West Jakarta, one on
Jl. Kwitang in Central Jakarta, one on Jl. DI Pandjaitan and
another on Jl. Ahmad Yani in East Jakarta.
She said the management of the gas station on Jl. Ahmad Yani
had also built a drugstore on the land designated as a green
area.
"We will also take action against 26 other gas stations built
on green areas," she said.
Thirty-two gas stations occupy five hectares of designated
parkland or green areas. Previously 36 gas stations stood on 5.32
hectares of land designated as green zones, but four of the
stations had been closed and the land rehabilitated.
The construction of gas stations in green zones violates Bylaw
No. 11/1988 on public order. It states that no buildings,
including gas stations, are allowed to occupy green areas, which
function as the city's lungs and water catchments.
Other gas stations in designated green zones are located on
Jl. Lapangan Ros in South Jakarta, around the Semanggi cloverleaf
and at Dukuh Atas in Central Jakarta.
The operational permits for these gas stations were issued by
then governor Ali Sadikin in the 1970s.
Several top figures, like former president Megawati
Soekarnoputri's husband Taufik Kiemas and former president
Soeharto's son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, are among those who
own the stations.
More than 300 buildings owned by private enterprises, state-
owned companies, the city police, street vendors and various
youth organizations have been build in green zones, according to
the agency.
The buildings include office buildings, premises of state-
owned companies, youth organization posts, police posts, power
relay stations, shops and kiosks.
The city has 208.6 hectares of parkland, 557.8 hectares of
greened median strips and 1,295.5 hectares of green areas or
urban forests.
Based on the Jakarta Master Plan for 2000-2010, the city
targets green zones to represent up to 13.94 percent of Jakarta's
63,744 hectares. Currently, green zones account for 9 percent of
the total city area.
Gas stations in green zones
Central Jakarta: