Experts back policy on city land use

JAKARTA (JP): City spatial observers voiced support on Thursday for the city administration's policy of allowing buildings whose construction breached existing spatial plans to continue to be utilized rather than be demolished.

Contacted separately by The Jakarta Post, city spatial experts M. Dhanisworo and Danang Priatmodjo said it would not be judicious for the administration to order the demolition of buildings found in violation of spatial plans.

The two were commenting on the City Council's endorsement on Wednesday of a new bylaw on the city's spatial plan, which will be effective until 2010.

"The previous spatial plan was too rigid due to the absence of any possibility for multiple land use. When the pressure for development was high during the economic boom, the regulations could not accommodate it," Dhanisworo said.

The professor at Bandung Institute of Technology's School of Architecture said 10 years ago changes in development occurred so quickly, both the public and the administration "compromised" and allowed violations of existing spatial regulations.

Dhanisworo hailed the administration's decision to merely impose penalties on errant building owners.

"If the administration took stricter action, I am afraid that half of the buildings in the city would be demolished because most of them breached the regulations," he said.

Danang agreed with Dhanisworo, saying demolishing buildings for the sake of the city's spatial plan would not benefit the city.

"Just let the buildings exist, but their owners should be obliged to pay compensation for their violations," he said.

Under the newly enacted bylaw on the city's spatial plan, the administration pledged to abide by new the regulation which calls for more green areas.

Green areas in the city declined in recent years as more building were constructed in the capital in the rush of economic development.

The head of City Council Commission D for development affairs, Ali Wongso Sinaga, said the new bylaw would prevent people from buying their way out of preserving the environment.

He underlined the importance of modifying those buildings found in violation of the city's spatial plan so they conformed with their land-use allocation.

Ali said, for example, buildings surrounding the Senayan complex in South Jakarta should be modified in accordance with their land-use allocation, namely for sports and recreation.

"That's why buildings like Plaza Senayan shopping complex and Hotel Mulia Senayan should provide sports or recreation facilities," he said.

Danang, who is a lecturer at Tarumanegara University in West Jakarta, said the administration should use the momentum of the currently sluggish property sector to evaluate its policies regarding this sector.

"Now is the right time for the administration to prepare accountable regulations which are flexible enough toward urban development."

He said the administration should also be aware that development always moved faster than regulations. (ind)