City to give low-cost apartments to evictees

Bambang Nurbianto and Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

To meet the demand from evictees for public housing, the city administration will provide three sites for the provision of low- cost apartments and public facilities in Muara Angke, North Jakarta.

North Jakarta Mayor Effendi Anas said on Monday that the administration would soon build a five-story block of low-cost apartments on 1.9-hectares of city land for evicted fishermen who possess Jakarta ID cards. The fishermen's homes along the banks of the Muara River were demolished by public order officers last week.

"The governor has ordered the relevant officials to follow up on the plan to build the apartments, which it is expected will accommodate all the evictees from the area," he said.

The apartment block, which will be built by the City Housing Agency, will be capable of accommodating some 800 families.

"The total of 528 of the families evicted from Muara Angke have Jakarta IDs. They will have priority in the allocation of the apartments," he said, adding that some 600 other families without Jakarta IDs would be sent back to their hometowns.

Anas was unable to give details of the plan, and only said that the project was being coordinated by the assistant to the city secretary for development affairs.

The administration has also set aside another two locations, one extending to almost two hectares and the other 6,000 square meters, for apartments in Muara Angke.

The mayor invited the Ministry of Settlements and Regional Infrastructure to build low-cost apartments on the land.

"The apartments on the 1.9-hectare site will be allocated to fishermen who go out fishing everyday, while the apartments on the two-hectare site will be for fish traders," he said.

The 6,000-square-meter site would be used for schools and health clinics.

Anas said that the evicted fishermen would be temporarily accommodated in shelters located in marshy areas near their demolished homes.

Anas revealed the plan after a meeting with Governor Sutiyoso, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais, West Jakarta Mayor Sarimun Hadisaputra and Jakarta Public Order Agency chief Soebagio.

Amien -- who previously condemned Sutiyoso as being "inhuman" -- said that he could understand the governor's policy as the problems he was facing were very complex.

Meanwhile, the Traditional Fishermen's Union (SNT), represented by four evicted fishermen, met Minister for Settlements and Regional Infrastructure Soenarno, the ministry's secretary-general, Djoko Kirmanto, and the ministry's director general for housing and settlements, Aca Sugandhy, at the ministry's headquarters.

The fishermen were demanding that Soenarno act on his earlier promise to provide them with housing.

Soenarno said he had discussed the matter with Sutiyoso but a number of issues had still to be settled.

"I can't promise you anything yet. I have to wait for the Jakarta administration's approval of our plan," he said.