City to give low-cost apartments to evictees

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.