Councils reject aid for house repairs

Councils reject aid for house repairs

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The councils of three subdistricts here have rejected city
administration aid for the repair of houses damaged by the recent
floods.

The councils of Kampung Melayu and Bidara Cina in East Jakarta
and Bangka in South Jakarta, turned down the aid because it was
too little, head of the Jakarta Housing Agency Bahri Anuar said
on Tuesday.

More than 1,000 houses in the three subdistricts were damaged
by massive floods in February, but the city only provided funds
for the renovation of half the number.

"The councils decided to reject the aid to avoid disputes
among residents," Bahri told reporters at City Hall.

The subdistrict council claimed that there were 700 damaged
houses in Kampung Melayu, but the administration only allocated
funds for the renovation of 250 houses. In Bidara Cina, there
were 500 damaged houses while the fund allocated was only for 75
houses. In Bangka, the administration only allocated funds for
nine houses even though 79 houses were damaged.

Bahri said hundreds of residents were not eligible to receive
aid because their houses were not badly damaged or were located
on the riverbanks.

The city administration had allocated more than Rp 10 billion
for the renovation of 4,171 damaged houses, with each to receive
Rp 2.5 million for the renovation. Four hundred thousand rupiah
was to be deducted in tax and design fees.

Councillor Mukhayar of the Justice Party criticized the
administration for failing to properly implement the program.

He also revealed irregularities in the program as there were
houses that were only slightly damaged, costing only about Rp 1
million to repair.

"But the owners of the houses were asked to sign a receipt
acknowledging that they received Rp 2.1 million for the
renovation," he said.