Council questions Sutiyoso's policy on Mangga Dua Square

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.