City to buy land for canal at market price
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration has said it will pay the market price to acquire land for the East Flood Canal, in a move it hopes will minimize opposition from residents.
City Public Works Agency head Fodly Misbach said disputes over land compensation were a major barrier to the project, which is seen as vital for addressing annual flooding in eastern Jakarta.
"I will buy the land at market price after a new legal basis for land acquisition is issued by the President so that we can spend all of the funds allocated for the project in the city budget," Fodly said, referring to the necessary draft presidential decree regulating land acquisitions for government projects.
Currently, the city purchases land for government projects based on the value of taxable property (NJOP), as stipulated in Presidential Decree No. 55/1995. The NJOP is always much lower than the market price.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is currently looking into a presidential decree that would require all parties involved in land clearance to pay market price rather than the NJOP.
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said previously he and several other governors had been ordered by the central government to draft a decree on land acquisition.
According to Sutiyoso, he submitted the draft to Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla for approval by President Susilo.
Last year, the city allocated Rp 150 billion (US$16.67 million) to acquire 43 hectares of land, but only managed to acquire some 9.87 hectares -- 8.54 hectares in North Jakarta and 1.33 in East Jakarta.
Fodly said the city had allocated Rp 450 billion to acquire about 70 hectares of land this year.
The administration has so far only managed to acquire 36.67 hectares of 401 hectares of land required for the East Flood Canal, which will run from the Cipinang subdistrict in East Jakarta to the Marunda subdistrict in North Jakarta.
The canal is a joint project between the city administration and the central government. The city administration has to allocate Rp 2.47 trillion for land acquisition, while the central government has to provide Rp 2.53 trillion for the construction of the canal.
The canal was designed by the Netherlands Engineering Consultants back in 1973.
The East Flood Canal and the existing West Flood Canal will jointly create a semicircular canal that will take on overflow from the 13 major rivers flowing through the city.
The 14-kilometer long West Flood Canal, running from Manggarai in South Jakarta to Muara Angke in North Jakarta, was constructed in 1924 by the Dutch colonial government.
When the East Flood Canal project was inaugurated in July 2003 by then President Megawati Soekarnoputri, its construction was expected to be completed in 2007. However, that date seem extremely ambitious now, given the difficulties with land acquisition.
Sutiyoso has frequently said his administration will be unable to resolve the annual flooding in the city until it completes the East Flood Canal, which was also designed to serve as a water transportation network in the capital.