Council to probe Kemayoran land row
JAKARTA (JP): A 20-member group sought the City Council's help yesterday over a land dispute with two private developer companies, PT Sinar Mas Group and PT Duta Pertiwi.
At stake, according to the group, is a 19.62-hectare plot on Jl. Let. Jen. Suprapto in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.
The 27-story Cempaka Mas apartment block and a 4-story office building have been constructed on the plot in a joint venture between the two companies.
A member of the group, Pieter Tarigan, which represents PT Raya Ahman, a private firm, asked the council to intervene and settle the problem.
The land belongs to Raya Ahman, which has been awarded a deed of lease as stipulated in the Jakarta High Court decree number 212 issued in 1983, Pieter said.
The firm bought the land from farmers in early 1974 but later learned that it belonged to the state. As compensation, Raya Ahman received lease rights from the court, he said.
But Pieter had no idea how long Raya Ahman had the rights to lease the land.
In 1992 construction on the plot began and it was converted into an apartment and office building without the knowledge of Raya Ahman, he said.
"We are confused. We can't do anything else but go to the city councilors for help."
He insisted that Raya Ahman was the legitimate owner of the land because they held the land titles and had been paying property tax every year.
When asked why the group had submitted its complaint to City Council so late, Pieter explained that Raya Ahman's director, Tony K. Damanik, had only learned that the land was occupied in 1995, when he returned from living abroad for 15 years.
"Tony was shocked to find the land had been converted into apartments and immediately reported the matter to the Central Jakarta Mayoralty, district and subdistrict offices of Kemayoran," he said.
"But they say that the land is state property, so if we have a problem, they said we needed to settle it with the State Secretary's office."
Joice Budisusanto, spokeswoman for PT Duta Pertiwi, told The Jakarta Post that her company never realized there was a problem with the status of the Cempaka Mas land.
"Our company got the land from PT Mercu Buana, which is owned by Pak Probosutedjo," she said. "The latter got the land titles from the State Secretary's office about five years ago."
She expressed concern over the land issue.
"We were never informed by PT Raya Ahman about this," she said. "If they had come to us sooner, instead of visiting the City Council, we may have settled the problem fairly.
"We are open to discussion with the related parties. But, sincerely, we had no idea that there were problems with the plot. We will investigate the matter."
She said that her company would not have developed the apartment project if it had no legal land documents.
Representatives of PT Raya Achman were received yesterday by Commission A for administrative affairs.
The councilors promised to discuss the problem with related parties and arrange a hearing with all the companies involved.
"We'll try to arrange a meeting to solve this matter properly," councilor Saamin, the head of the commission, said. (07)