Council questions Sutiyoso's policy on Mangga Dua Square

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The City Council is seeking an explanation from Governor Sutiyoso over his policy to convert a street along Ciliwung River in Pademangan, North Jakarta into parking space for the Mangga Dua Square (MDS) shopping center.

Councillor Rois Hadayana Syaugie of Commission A overseeing legal and administrative affairs said the commission had sent a letter to the council speaker asking for an explanation from Sutiyoso on the issue.

"We are seeking an explanation from Sutiyoso because the conversion of a public space into a parking space in the shopping center (owned by a private party) is simply disadvantageous for residents in the area," Rois said over the weekend.

Bylaw No. 11/1988 on public order prohibits the construction of buildings on riverbanks, including on streets alongside rivers, which are meant to be used for monitoring the river's flow.

Sutiyoso, however, has reportedly allowed the MDS management to convert a 13-meter-wide street along Ciliwung River into a three-story parking lot.

Rois said if Sutiyoso did not provide acceptable reasons for the conversion, it would imply something untoward in the conversion process.

"After Sutiyoso gives his explanation, we will decide what our final recommendation over the parking lot will be, including on whether or not we have to order the administration to tear down the building," he said.

The management of the MDS shopping center has acknowledged that it converted the street alongside the river into a parking lot, but said the conversion was done with the consent of Governor Sutiyoso's administration.

"We made a request to use the street for parking space and the administration approved it," Hary Cahyono, a director of MDS, said earlier in a hearing with Commission A.

Sutiyoso has not yet commented on the issue.

Another councillor Vike Verry Ponto also questioned a possible agreement between the MDS management and the Jakarta administration over the use of the parking lot.

"MDS has claimed that the parking lot will be operated under a profit-sharing scheme. Unfortunately, MDS has no documentation of the agreement," he said.

The commission's recommendation was made after Commission A received complaints from Pademangan Barat residents, who said their homes were now at risk of flooding as the developer had raised the land of the shopping center higher than the land level in the neighborhood.

The residents also said the developer had not built public facilities, such as pedestrian bridges, for people to safely cross Jl. Gunung Sahari, where the MDS shopping center is located.