Common graves planned for Jakartans

Common graves planned for Jakartans

JAKARTA (JP): In an attempt to overcome a lack of land for
public cemeteries, the city administration has called on
residents to accept common graves for themselves and their loved
ones.

The city authorities are also encouraging Jakartans to seek
public cemeteries outside the capital, so as to lessen the
pressure on space.

Spokesman for the city administration Muhayat said on Sunday
that there were 103 public cemeteries across the capital
occupying 566 hectares of land at present. Only some of the
cemeteries applied the common grave system, in which two or more
bodies were buried in the same grave.

Muhayat said the capital needed at least 18 hectares of land
per year to accommodate the daily average of between 100 and 120
burials.

Most public cemeteries, such as the one in Tanah Kusir in
South Jakarta, have no more room for additional graves, according
to Muhayat. The city administration could only provide 1 hectare
of land annually for public cemeteries, given the limited budget
allocated for land acquisition.

Muhayat added that the city administration had not purchased
any land for public cemeteries last year after the proposed
purchase of 2.4 hectares of land to extend the Pondok Rangon
cemetery in East Jakarta was rejected.

He also called on residents to keep their cemetery permits,
which must be extended every three years, up to date to avoid
overlapping of burials.

Currently the annual fee for a cemetery permit varies between
Rp 2,000 and Rp 50,000 depending on the location.

Public cemeteries contributed Rp 2.41 billion to the city
revenue in the 1999/2000 fiscal year, down from Rp 2.48 billion
in the previous fiscal year. The income from cemetery fees for
nine months of the 2000 fiscal year was set at Rp 2.8 billion.
(07)