Councilors concerned about Sunter land case

Councilors concerned about Sunter land case

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council urged the city administration
yesterday to pay compensation to 344 families whose land in
Sunter, North Jakarta, will be appropriated for the construction
of a new reservoir.

Chairman of the Council's Commission A in charge of government
affairs, M. Aman, said that prompt payment is critical to help
them move to other areas before land prices escalate further.

"Because the residents need the money to buy land in other
areas, it will be better if the city administration pays all the
compensation this year," Aman said.

However, since the dam is being financed with funds from city
and state budgets, the compensation will most likely arrive in
stages.

"We can understand that the city administration faces
procedural problems but all the residents want is to move to
other areas as soon as possible," Aman said.

The 344 families are among the 829 families that occupy about
13.5 hectares of state land in Sunter. So far, 485 have already
left the area after receiving their compensation, which was set
in 1993 at Rp 160,000 (US$72.7) per square meter of land and Rp
60,000 for swampland.

Aman said that the central government has earmarked about Rp
25 billion to appropriate the land.

Out of the Rp 25 billion, Aman said, Rp 8.5 billion was
disbursed by the central government in the 1993/1994 and
1994/1995 fiscal years, and another Rp 3.5 billion came from the
city administration, he said.

In this current 1995/1996 year, the city administration has
allocated an additional Rp 5 billion to compensate the remaining
residents, Aman said.

The amount, however, is only enough to pay about 249 families.
Payment for the remaining 95 families will be conducted next
year, he said.

The reservoir is one of two in Sunter. The reservoir projects
are designed to help control the annual floods in 38 of the
city's most vulnerable areas. (yns)