Complicated land permit processing intentional: Official
Complicated land permit processing intentional: Official
JAKARTA (JP): An official of the city administration said
yesterday that the so-called arduous, most bureaucratic and time
consuming procedures to obtain land use licenses (SIPPT)
constitute a mechanism created on purpose to protect businessmen.
Head of the City Planning Agency Udin Abimanyu said that the
complicated procedures are created to prevent violations which
might cause big losses to businessmen.
"The procedures in which proposals have to pass a number of
different desks are designed in such a way to help avoid any
wrongdoings with regard to fake land certificates or other
documents on disputed lands," Udin told reporters.
Udin made the remarks in response to sharp criticism from a
number of businessmen, who said that the customary procedures at
city administration to secure land use licenses are arduous, most
bureaucratic and time-consuming.
The businessmen contended that the procedures run counter to
President Soeharto's recent call on all government offices to do
away with all rulings that hamper public services.
A businessman, who is now constructing office buildings on Jl.
Thamrin and Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta, related that he had
to go through more than 30 counters in various municipality
offices before securing a license enabling him to build the
offices. "It took me more than one year and an untold sum of
money to obtain the license. This is not to mention the time and
energy spent," the businessman, who asked for anonymity, said.
Udin acknowledged that the process is time consuming because
investigation of land certificates alone should be done carefully
so as to check their validity.
Udin also said that the city administration has been trying to
simplify the process but it is difficult to implement because the
process involves different agencies such as the City Planning
Agency and the City Agrarian Office.
Businessmen should contact the agrarian office to legalize
land certificates before going to the city planning agency to
consult whether or not the project is in line with the city's
master plan.
"The simplification effort has been tried since the tenure of
Ali Sadikin as governor," he said.
Udin said that according to the procedure, businessmen are not
supposed to bring their files from one counter to another because
the files are automatically transferred among the counters.
"Businessmen apply for the licenses at the Land Affairs Office
(BPUT) and wait until the process is completed. In practice many
businessmen are not patient enough to wait and take their files
to go through the counters themselves," Udin said without
answering questions on corrupt practices.(yns)