Developer challenges public to take case to court

Developer challenges public to take case to court

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The developer of luxurious housing complex Pantai Indah Kapuk
in North Jakarta, which is accused of causing floods, challenged
the public on Monday to take the case to court.

"We are ready to face any legal action," the president of
developer PT Mandara Permai, Budi Nurwono, told reporters after
meeting Governor Sutiyoso at City Hall.

Budi, accompanied by the firm's owner, property tycoon
Ciputra, denied that the housing project had caused floods along
the toll road heading to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
But he said that his company had agreed to finance the
development of a water dike along nearby Angke river to protect
the area from encroaching seawater.

The 1,160-hectare complex has long sparked controversy as it
was built in 1989 on area formerly covered by mangrove forest and
swamps. The construction of the project was approved by then
minister of forestry Hasjrul Harahap and then governor Wiyogo
Atmodarminto.

Several NGOs are planning to file a class action suit against
the developer for causing floods in the nearby Penjaringan area.

They accused the developer of violating the city's land-use
plan for building the complex on a protected green belt area.

According to the city's master land-use plan for 1985 and
2005, the location was still designated a green belt area.

But it was changed into a residential area in 1995. The
conversion was justified with the issuance of Bylaw No. 6/1999 on
the city's land-use plan. The bylaw, which remains valid until
2010, stipulates that the location, where PIK is situated, is
designated for housing, instead of a green belt area.

Budi said that the housing project was built on former fish
ponds that belonged to the Ministry of Forestry, not on a water
catchment area and mangrove forest.

"We refuse the accusation that we caused flooding... and we
reject any change to our housing complex before it is decided by
a court," he said.

City Governor Sutiyoso earlier suggested that a golf course in
the housing complex should be changed into a water dam to reduce
flooding in the area.

Budi claimed that the annual floods in areas near the toll
road were mainly caused by the sea tide, which had further
encroached on inland areas because the land had sunk 70
centimeters since 1974.

But Budi could not explain how his company managed to exchange
the 1,160-hectare plot of land owned by the forestry ministry
with several plots in West Java and two islands north of Jakarta.

Records show that the developer exchanged the land in North
Jakarta with a 1,190-hectare site in Citarum, Cianjur, a 75-
hectare plot in Rumpin, Bogor and a 350-hectare piece of land in
Nagrak, Sukabumi.

The developer also acquired an 18.4-hectare site on West
Penjaliran island and a 19-hectare site on East Penjaliran
island, part of the Thousand Island chain, located north of
Jakarta and gave them to the ministry.