City speeds up process of 63,000 land titles
City speeds up process of 63,000 land titles
JAKARTA (JP): The National Land Agency (BPN) will speed up the
processing of some 63,000 land certificates in 12 of Jakarta's
subdistricts, an official said over the weekend.
Head of BPN's city office, Rizal Anshari, told reporters that
the move was part of the office's plan to improve services for
low-income land owners who do not have sufficient legal land
documents.
Rizal said that the land certificate program, called the
Administration Land Project, started last July. The project had
completed its first 1,000 land certificates in the Srengseng
Sawah and Jagakarsa subdistricts in South Jakarta.
"Jagakarsa and Srengseng Sawah are our pilot project areas.
There are wide plots of land there and most of the owners do not
have sufficient documents, because most of them... do not care
about land documentation," Rizal said.
A total of 63,000 certificates are projected to be processed
by December 1998. The 12 subdistricts are currently being
studied, he said.
The Administration Land Project in Greater Jakarta is co-
sponsored by the World Bank and the Australian government.
The project had already processed certificates in Tangerang,
Bekasi and Bogor starting in 1994. Jakarta was the last area to
start the program, Rizal said.
"The project is aimed to help people get legal documents
through a quick, easy and affordable service," he said.
People only had to pay Rp 11,500 (US$3) for the processing of
a land certificate from their old land document called Girik and
Rp 26,000 for a certificate allowing rights to build from the
older Hak Guna Bangunan certificates.
Officials have been recording over the last two years
prospective residents who want to process land titles.
"All of the expenses from measuring the plot to the final
mapping of the land are paid by the office," he said.
The program aimed to erase public impressions that processing
a land document was time consuming and expensive, he said.
"We really want to help low-income people who cannot afford
processing their land documentation."
"Basically we want to concentrate on documenting land in
suburban places in Jakarta, such as the Kalisari area in East
Jakarta. Why suburban? Because most of the villagers who live
there are blind about the importance of having a legal land
document.
"They are targets of land brokers or developers who can easily
cheat them," Rizal said.
Land documentation has become a serious issue due to rising
cases of land document manipulation.
"Land has become so expensive in Jakarta. The rapid growth of
the city's development encourage people to do anything -- even
through illegal actions such as forging documents -- to get a
plot of land," Rizal said.
Recently President Soeharto ordered State Minister of Agrarian
Affairs Soni Harsono to step up efforts to eradicate increasingly
rampant land title forgeries and punish those found guilty of the
crime.
Reports have indicated that in Bekasi alone at least 200
documents had been falsified through sophisticated forgery
techniques.
Rizal admitted that it was difficult to deal with the culprits
because it was hard to prove the illegal action.
He also urged people to be brave enough to report any
manipulative actions and promised to punish guilty parties.
"We are trying to improve our professionalism. Hopefully, with
the land titles project we can manage to give the best service to
the public," he said. (edt)