City to implement 'pedestrianization'

City to implement 'pedestrianization'

JAKARTA: The city administration has summoned owners of
buildings along Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta to discuss plans
to clear the street of gates, walls and barriers.

Mauritz Napitupulu, head of the City Parks Agency, said the
plan was intended to "humanize" the streets and make them more
comfortable for pedestrians.

"Please don't call the plan 'breaking down gates'. That gives
the impression that the administration is forcing the building
owners to clear the barriers. Better to call it
'pedestrianization'. The administration only wants to make the
streets more comfortable for pedestrians, like Orchard Road in
Singapore," he said.

"Ten days ago, we summoned several owners of buildings on Jl.
Thamrin to introduce the idea and the design. A city planning
team from the Bandung Institute of Technology, which has been
appointed to design the plan, also attended the meeting and
explained the idea," he said on Thursday.

However, not all of the owners of buildings on Jl. Thamrin
were summoned. "Every building has a different character and
architectural style. So we cannot implement a general design for
all of them," he said.

Mauritz said the ideal design was "two-four-two", meaning two
meters of green area, beside that four meters for the sidewalk,
and then another two meters of green area.

He conceded, however, that the administration could not
totally implement that design because not all of the buildings
had enough land.

He gave the United Nations building as an example. The
distance between the building and the street, he said, is not
sufficient for the two-four-two design.

As for security concerns, he said the administration was ready
to coordinate with the police on the project. --JP