Developers lose land if delaying housing projects
JAKARTA (JP): The government will take strict measures against real estate developers which fail to develop land that has been licensed for housing within 15 years, State Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tandjung said.
"If the housing developers are not able to develop the land, the government will take over," Tandjung told reporters after a ceremony here yesterday to mark the opening of a four-day workshop for journalists on housing development. The workshop, organized by the office of the State Minister of Public Housing, moved to Kopo in Bogor, West Java, yesterday afternoon.
Tandjung asserted that the government could not tolerate mismanagement on the part of housing companies who delayed their projects. He said that these delays might undermine the government to establish 500,000 houses during the Sixth Five Year Development Plan (Repelita VI) period.
"Of the number, approximately 200,000 houses will be built by private developers, 250,000 by the state-owned housing company Perum Perumnas and 50,000 by the Pemukiman Bina Karya cooperative.
Tandjung expressed his concerns that many developers had failed to meet the 15-year requirement for development and left their areas undeveloped.
Citing an example, he said that the developer of the Bumi Serpong Damai real estate company in Tangerang, West Java held 6,000-hectares of land. However, they had only built on 40 percent of the land they said would be developed in their licensing proposal.
"If the developer of Bumi Serpong Damai cannot meet the requirements, the government will be in strong position to take over the undeveloped lands," he said after a monthly ministerial meeting on economy here on Monday.
Preparation
Tandjung said a ruling on housing development is now being prepared by his office in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Works.
"I hope the new ruling will be issued this month under a presidential decree," he added.
Under the planned ruling, developers which obtain licenses for land development will have to report the progress of their activities every year, he said.
He added that the government has also required housing developers to settle all problems related to land acquisition within two years.
Tandjung also asked developers to focus on the development in 10 areas where the demand for housing was high. The areas are the Jakarta greater area (Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi), Surabaya, Bandung, Solo, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Medan, Ujungpandang, Banjarmasin and Batam. (fhp)