'Fences still needed'

'Fences still needed'

JAKARTA (JP): Additional security measures would have to be
considered if fences and walls between buildings were removed, a
councilor said yesterday.

Bandjar Marpaung who heads Commission D for development
affairs, said people here still had a distressing tendency to
damage other people's property if given the opportunity.

He was commenting on the city's proposed pilot project to
remove borders between buildings on Jl. Jend. Sudirman and Jl.
M.H. Thamrin.

"The policy could be accepted in the new superblocks where
security is coordinated," Bandjar said.

In other areas managements would need police services, and
police were already understaffed, he added.

The policy is one of the efforts to make the city more
friendly-looking, the head of the city's architecture team, M.
Danisworo, said earlier.

Building owners were given until the end of this month to tear
down fences or walls, but representatives of building managements
said they had not heard about the policy.

Bandjar said the policy could not be implemented if managers
said they did not know of it.

Achmad, General Affairs Manager of PT Danareksa Jakarta which
runs the Bursa Efek Jakarta building on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, said
local authorities had involved managements in other matters, like
maintaining cleanliness, but had not informed them of the no-wall
policy.

A secretary, Evilina, of the PT Gunung Sewu property
management firm, which manages the Bapindo building on Jl. Jend.
Sudirman, also said the management did not know of the policy.

She said security guards would have to be added if walls were
removed. (anr)