Construction of four low-cost apartments start

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)