City to start bus terminal building, change design
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Land acquisition for the Pulo Gebang intercity bus terminal in East Jakarta has been problematic for the city administration. Thus, when the stalled project is resumed next year, a new design will be used in accordance with the available land.
"The positioning of the gates could be changed if the land owners insist on refusing our price offer. The new design is expected to be completed by the end of this year," City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya told The Jakarta Post and Koran Tempo on Monday at the City Hall.
Out of the 10.9 hectares of land needed for the terminal, some 1.9 hectares has yet to be purchased due to a disagreement over its price. Most of the 1.9 hectares of land belongs to state- owned property company Perumnas, while locals own the rest.
Ritola said the administration would "face difficulties" in auditing the project if it paid the price land owners demanded, which is double the land's market value.
"The auditor would assume the administration is corrupt", he asserted.
Kirin, 75, a land owner, had earlier demanded Rp 600 million (US$70,588) for his 300-square-meter plot of land.
He claimed the administration only offered him Rp 325,000 per square meter, or half of the current sales and property tax value (NJOP) around the area -- although the administration offered between Rp 750,000 and Rp 2 million to other land owners in the area.
The bus terminal was supposed to have been operational in 2001, to replace the overcrowded Pulogadung terminal, also in East Jakarta. The planned terminal would accommodate 1,400 buses per day. It will be larger than Pulogadung terminal, which is notorious for rampant thuggery targeting passengers.
The administration has often cited land acquisition as the reason behind the project's snail's pace development.
The City Council earlier demanded a thorough probe of the project by the Jakarta Audit Agency (Bawasda) and the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) amid alleged irregularities and an increasing budget.
To date, the project has absorbed Rp 60 billion of funds from the city budget for land acquisition and the construction of a two-meter-high wall encircling the 10.9-hectare compound.
The site of the planned terminal is a swampy area with a fish pond in the center. The last construction work there was done five months ago.
No details were available on the funds allocated for the new design, which is currently being prepared by a team of experts from the University of Indonesia, nor on the construction itself.