Construction of four low-cost apartments start

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration has embarked on the construction of four low-cost apartment projects with a combined investment commitment of Rp 57 billion (US$26.13 million).

The collective launching of the construction of the projects was centered in a ceremony at the Bendungan Hilir fire site, Central Jakarta, on Saturday.

The ceremony was marked by the laying of the cornerstone for the establishment of the Bendungan Hilir apartment project by Governor Surjadi Soedirdja.

Surjadi underlined at the ceremony the importance of building the apartments to help the city administration reduce the number of slum areas and provide better housing for Jakartans.

"Just don't believe any rumors saying that there will be luxurious housing complexes on those sites. The city administration will build low-cost housing for all of you," Surjadi told the Bendungan Hilir residents who attended the ceremony.

Besides at Bendungan Hilir, the city administration will also build apartments in Karet Tengsin and Jati Bunder, Central Jakarta, and another one in Tebet Barat, South Jakarta.

"Three projects in Central Jakarta will be financed by funds from the city budget, while the one in Tebet is the responsibility of PT Setdco Grahamadura, a private company," Ongky Sukasah, chief of the City Housing Office, said.

Police and army officers guarded Saturday's ceremony in Bendungan Hilir to anticipate possible protests by local squatters.

Clashes

There were clashes between law enforcement officers and squatters in Bendungan Hilir earlier this month over the demolition of their houses, which left a number people injured.

Ongky said that the apartment projects involve the construction of a total of 720 units in Bendungan Hilir, 152 units in Karet Tengsin, 40 units in Jati Bunder and 288 units in Tebet Barat.

He explained that the apartment complex in Bendungan Hilir will cover 44,979 square meters, while the one in Karet Tengsin will cover 31,033 square meters, the Jati Bunder project 12,640 square meters and the Tebet Barat project 173,000 square meters.

The Bendungan Hilir apartment complex will consist of four 10- story blocks. It has been designed to conserve land area and to accommodate all of the evicted squatters.

"It would not have been adequate to accommodate all of the residents if we built five-story apartments. Moreover, this plan is considered to be reasonable as the price of the land in the area is already high, reaching Rp 1 million per square meter," Sukasah said.

The other three apartment projects, in Karet Tengsin, Jati Bunder and Tebet Barat, will involve buildings of only five floors, he said.

All four projects are expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Compensation

Central Jakarta Mayor Abdul Kahfi said at the ceremony that the city administration will not give residents compensation in cash because that would not solve their problems.

"Residents will get the units and we will pay the surplus of the compensation if the price is lower than the amount of compensation," Kahfi promised.

He explained that each unit will be sold for Rp 23 million, of which 50 percent will be subsidized by the city administration. "The residents will have to pay only the other half."

"Residents whose compensation is not adequate to buy the unit will be required to pay in installments for 20 years," Kahfi added.

He said that out of the 465 families registered in the subdistrict office, 307 have already taken the rent allowances provided by the city administration to enable them to temporarily rent houses pending the completion of the apartments.

In a related development, South Jakarta Mayor Pardjoko complained over the stubbornness of residents of Tebet Barat.

"They still stay there even though we have tried to make them understand and have warned them to move from the site adjacent to the location of the apartment project," Pardjoko said.

He added that he would evict them from the land once the construction of the apartments is finished.

He said that only 50 out of the 200 families at the Tebet Barat site have accepted the Rp 400,000 rent allowance. (yns)