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)