Councilors accuse administration of being inconsistent

JAKARTA (JP): Members of City Council have criticized the municipal administration for being inconsistent in implementing the existing regulations. They also accuse the administration of frequently disregarding the council in the issuance of a number of the city's policies.

Lukman F. Mokoginta, chairman for the Indonesian Democratic Party faction of the council, said that such inconsistencies can be seen in many cases, in which city administration issued permits without any approval from the council.

City administration has, for example, frequently approved proposals, advanced by private developers, for changes in the regional development planning of certain plots of land, without the council's consent. It also, frequently, approved proposals for the barter of city properties, without informing the city council.

"These acts show an inconsistency on the part of the city administration because, according to the regulations, they need approval from city council," Lukman told reporters over the weekend.

He also said that this inconsistency is completely against the governor's recent order to his subordinates concerning the importance of implementing existing regulations without compromise, because the rules were not prepared and deliberated indiscriminately, but through a democratic process.

In reality, however, it is the city administration officials themselves who compromise with certain private companies to violate the rules.

"All of this would not happen if the city administration implemented the regulations consistently," he said.

Lukman further explained that city council recently discovered a number of cases in which the city administration made decisions without the council's approval.

Permit

In the development of the Klender market in East Jakarta, the governor has permitted PD Pasar Jaya, the city-owned market managing company, to engulf about 3,100 square meters, earmarked for a green area, for the expansion of the market project.

He said that city administration increasingly tends to change regional development planning of part of the city police headquarters area into the establishment of a business center without any consultation with the council.

"This plan should be avoided because any changes to city planning, or the usage of city properties, have to get a green light from the council," he reiterated.

Lukman said that the condition is arising mainly because of the absence of a land banking system and a thorough master plan.

"The city should have set up a land banking system to enable it to stabilize land prices and to arrange the development of the city's areas in line with city planning," he said.

Once city administration plans to build a road network in certain areas, the compensation of the land to make way for construction of the project should be set at normal prices with the help of the land banking system," he said.

Due to the absence of the land banking system, he said, city administration issues land appropriation permits, allowing developers to appropriate certain plots of land. The developers later propose to change its regional development planning, even though it is against the master plan.

Commenting on the city administration's decisions to change city planning on the grounds that regional planning can be reevaluated every five years, Lukman explained that the city administration has misinterpreted the philosophy of evaluation.

He said reevaluation does not necessarily mean changing the whole plan, but is aimed at further improving it. (yns)