E. Jakarta mayoralty plans to have more public parks

JAKARTA (JP): The East Jakarta mayoralty plans to build six 500-square-meter parks, the mayor said yesterday.

Mayor Sudarsono said the parks would be in the Pulogadung, Jatinegara, Matraman and Duren Sawit districts. Duren Sawit will have three parks.

These will be Taman Segi Tiga Duren Sawit, Taman Pondok Kelapa Barat, and Taman Lembah Lontar.

On Tuesday Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said the city planned to gradually increase its green space from 18,179.68 hectares to reach 26,450.40 hectares, or 40 percent of the city's 656 hectares which is considered ideal.

In Pulogadung area the park to be called Taman Jalan was will be in Puloasem. In Jatinegara, the park will be called Taman Jalur Hijau Daun. The Matraman park will be called Taman Galur Sari.

In October, Mayor Sudarsono ordered all residents of the locations to move. Residents around the Taman Jalur Hijau Daun site resisted, but the others did not.

Sudarsono justified the evictions on 1988 public order rule number 11 which banned land use without the owners' permission.

The mayor said "the lands were owned by the state."

More than 80 families will be affected.

Thirteen families living on Jalur Hijau Daun street, Jatinegara subdistrict complained of low compensation.

They occupy one neighborhood covering more than 500 square meters.

"The mayoralty only offered Rp 500,000 (US$210) to each family," said Sunarto, 52, the head of Jalur Hijau Daun neighborhood.

He said residents demanded Rp 300,000 per square meter.

Five people had accepted the mayoralty's compensation offer but eight had refused, Sunarto said.

The eight people asked the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) for legal representation.

Lawyer Waskito Adiribowo, who heads the Institute's land and environment division said the mayor should have announced a list of every family who had to leave the site.

In the absence of such a list, "It has made the legal process even more difficult," Waskito said.

LBH lawyers also criticized officials' legal interpretations in justifying evictions.

Sunarto, the neighborhood chief in Jatinegara, said about 100 of the mayoralty's public order officers came to demolish houses last month But agreed not to until after Idul Fitri next month.

"But the problem of compensation has not been settled since," he said. Most residents could not show land ownership certificates.

He said the residents, who have lived on the site since 1963, were allowed to build houses by authorities at that time.

The location was formerly used as a garbage disposal, he said. (07)