Council to probe Kemayoran land row

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)