Deadline stalls overpass work

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post/Tangerang

With only four weeks left, the Tangerang Regency administration may have to cancel its plan to construct an overpass in the highly-congested Ciputat area after receiving a warning letter from the Ministry of Public Works.

"We have received a warning letter from the ministry, saying that the administration must finish acquiring 4,000-square-meter of land for the construction work by the end of December," Ciputat district chief Muhamad said on Friday.

Should the regency fail to acquire the land by the deadline, the Rp 80 billion (US$8.89 million) fund allocated by the ministry will be granted to the Tangerang municipality which has also proposed the construction of an overpass in Ciledug area.

Muhamad, who also chairs a special team set up for acquiring the land, said to date the regency had only been able to acquire 60 percent of the total land area, which is owned by 140 residents.

"It is a classic problem. The administration has set the compensation at Rp 1.4 million per sq m of land, in accordance with the Taxable Value of the Property (NJOP) in the area," he said. "But land owners have demanded between Rp 2 million and Rp 3 million per sq m in compensation for their land."

Muhamad said he was waiting for the order from Regent Ismet Iskandar to ask residents, who had already received the compensation, to leave their land soon.

Despite the warning letter, Ismet said the overpass construction would not be postponed. ""We will allocate more funds from the regency's 2005 budget to cover the shortage."

The construction work of the 800-meter overpass -- starting in front of Ramayana Department Store on Jl. Dewi Sartika to a gas station on Jl. Juanda -- is to be financed by the central government.

"The overpass is a solution for overcoming the chronic traffic congestion in front of Ciputat market," Ismet said.

Motorists need around an hour during peak hours to pass the market. With the overpass, they would be able to pass the market in around five minutes and cut the distance by 1.5-kilometers.

The regent hinted that the administration would bow down to the residents demand for compensation to make sure that the construction work starts in January 2005.

Ismet will request the Tangerang District Court to issue a ruling saying that the administration is allowed to pay the compensation gradually and that land owners must not demand an amount in excess of the administration's financial capability.

"There is no reason to postpone the construction work even if some residents still refuse to accept the compensation," he said.

The regency has allocated Rp 25 billion from its 2004 budget for land acquisition. Some Rp 15 billion has been paid to around 80 land owners.