'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)