Developer told to move cement mixing plant
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration yesterday ordered the developer of the Taman Rasuna apartments in Kuningan, South Jakarta, to move its cement mixing plant 500 meters away from a nearby school building to protect students from dust and noise coming from the plant.
"The city administration has given the developer two weeks from Sunday to move the plant to the other site," said Prawoto S. Danoemihardja, an assistant to the deputy governor for economy and development.
The city administration, according to Prawoto, has ordered the developer to take the measure because the dust and noise from the plant, which is now located just 20 meters away from a nearby school building, is feared to not only cause health problems for the students but also disturb the learning process.
The management of PT Catur Swasakti Utama (CSU), led by director Iwan Hendradi Djarot, yesterday met Deputy Governor for Economy and Development Tubagus M. Rais at City Hall to solve the matter, which made headlines in Jakarta-based newspapers.
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PT CSU agreed to move the cement mixing plant and will notify its sub-contractor immediately.
"We will instruct our contractor to remove the plant soon because they decided to erect the plant at the location," Iwan said.
The City Council recently summoned and asked executives of CSU to clarify the matter following reports that the developer had illegally appropriated state-owned property, including elementary school buildings and an unoccupied 6,000-square-meter plot.
CSU is controlled by Bakrie Investindo, a holding corporation of the Bakrie business group, whose major shareholder is Aburizal Bakrie, the chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).
Kurniasih, the school headmistress of one of the schools, earlier said that 334 of her students had abandoned the school building and moved to two other nearby schools because the project produced thick dust and noise, posing serious health and psychological problems to the students.
PT CSU said that it had demolished the two elementary school buildings within the 3.7 hectare area on the grounds that the physical condition of the buildings was so bad that they might have tumbled down anytime, particularly with the workers starting to use heavy equipment.
The developer is building one 4,000-apartment unit in the strategic area, popularly known as the Golden Triangle.
Therefore, the company preferred to build temporary classrooms and demolish the aging school buildings.
However, the developer's executives admitted that they made a mistake in pulling down the old school buildings without first asking for an official permit from the city administration.
When asked if the city administration would revoke the developer's license as a penalty for breaking the rule, Prawoto said that it would only cause losses to the city administration.
"It will affect not only the development of the area but also other city plans," Prawoto said. (yns)