Developers not monopolizing lands: Minister
Developers not monopolizing lands: Minister
JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Agrarian Affairs/Chairman of
the National Land Agency Soni Harsono denied yesterday that 10
leading property developers have monopolized land in Jakarta and
surrounding areas.
"The developers have acquired the land not for possession
purposes but to develop commercial housing complexes on it, "
Soni told reporters after attending a plenary meeting with the
House of Representatives which discussed a draft law on
mortgages.
The United Development Party faction in the House told the
minister in the meeting that most of about 60,000 hectares of
land in Jakarta and its surrounding areas have been acquired by
10 giant developers.
Yudo Paripurno, the spokesman of the faction, said that the
total land holding of the developers was almost as large as the
capital city: 65,000 hectares.
Minister Sony said: "All we have to do is to control the land
acquisition so that the developers will not acquire the land at
low prices but then sell the houses they build on it for very
high prices."
He said the government let the private companies build houses
because the government alone cannot do it.
He denied that land acquisition by giant developers had become
monopolistic, arguing that most of the developers are public
companies.
"A company that has already gone public belongs to the
people," he said.
He said that there is regulation limiting land acquisition by
developers. "We still refer to the old land regulations," he
said.
Sony said that there is already a mechanism which regulates
acquisition of land by a developer: land can only be purchased
after a "site permit" has been obtained from the local
administration.
The minister said high land prices had been caused by
unauthorized brokers.
"Their presence and activities are the cause of the mark-ups,"
he said, adding that both the developers and land owners suffer
as a result of their activities.
Yudo Paripurno, who read the faction's position on the draft
law on mortgages, said that such monopolistic practices by
certain developers were not in line with President Soeharto's
speech at a National Land Agency meeting in February, in which he
said that nobody is allowed to acquire land excessively.
"Land cannot be speculated in for obtaining great profits,"
the faction said, quoting Soeharto's speech.
The head of state also said that land speculation, which has
nothing to do with the people's welfare, is against the 1945
Constitution.
Soni said that the developers have paid enough attention to
social welfare.
"The government has come up with the balanced housing concept
for the developers to follow," he said.
"They have implemented the government's balanced concept on
housing, which stipulates that if a developer builds a luxury
house they must also construct three middle-class houses and six
low-cost houses," he said.
The rule was promulgated in 1992 by the ministers of home
affairs, public works and public housing. (imn)