Council says no to Hotel Mulia's 2nd tower

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council has sent a letter to Governor Sutiyoso urging him to prevent Hotel Mulia Senayan from building a second tower on the grounds that it could adversely affect the surrounding area.

Amarullah Asbah, head of Commission C for financial affairs, said Thursday the letter had officially been sent to the municipality.

According to the letter, if construction of the second tower goes ahead it could disrupt traffic in the area because Hotel Mulia lacks sufficient parking space and sidewalks.

Enggartiasto Lukita, a representative of Hotel Mulia management, announced earlier that the second tower, the construction of which will most likely be postponed due to the monetary crisis, was imperative to the hotel.

"We couldn't possibly get a sufficient return on our investment without the second tower. Besides, we would not have developed the hotel if we had known we would not be allowed to build the second tower. It was part of our investment plan," he said.

If Hotel Mulia goes ahead with the construction of the 56- story tower it will be subject to a fine of Rp 72.32 billion for breaching height regulations.

The first tower took nine months to construct and was completed in September at a cost of US$240 million. The 1,008- room hotel was used to accommodate about 1,800 SEA Games participants in October.

In the letter, the city councilors also urged the municipality to uphold existing rules by fining Hotel Mulia Rp 20.5 billion ($5.4 million) for breaching height regulations in the construction of the first tower.

According to the building permit, jointly signed by the governor and the minister/state secretary, the hotel's first tower was to be only 16 stories, but 40 stories were built.

Enggar said earlier that the hotel had been given permission to breach height restrictions during the construction of its first tower.

The hotel's owner was never warned about being subject to a fine, he said.

According to City Bylaw No. 8/1985 on building levies, PT Jakarta Country Club (JCC), the owner of Hotel Mulia, should be fined, he said.

The councilors also urged the municipality to be consistent in applying the city's spatial planning at the Senayan complex.

"Basically, we want the municipality to ask Hotel Mulia's owner to meet their obligation by paying a fine to the municipality," Amarullah said.

"The municipality must stop being lenient with developers and letting them avoid their obligations.

"How can the city collect more revenue if many of the prospective sources are being 'neglected'?" Amarullah asked. (edt/ind)