Fifty employees get punishment

JAKARTA (JP): The local government has punished about 50 City Development Supervision Agency officials over the last three years due to bad conduct, including collusion and corruption.

Suharto, head of the agency, which is in charge of issuing building permits, told reporters yesterday that the punishment was meted out in various ways, ranging from demotions and transfers to other positions, to warnings, depending on the violation the officials made.

"Collusion and other negative behavior happens everywhere, including my office. Please report to me if you find any misconduct committed by my subordinates, to enable me to take stern action against them," Suharto said.

He also said reports from the public should be accompanied by clear explanations as to whether the corruption or collusion are committed by officials of his agency without involving other agencies.

Suharto said that his agency is only in charge of analyzing the architectural drawing of proposals and of issuing building permits.

Other parts, including block planning and other permits concerning the city plan, are processed by the City Planning Office, he said.

"Therefore, it is important to give details in regards to which process any collusion is conducted," Suharto said.

Suharto made the remarks in response to complaints from the City Council, which said that collusion is rampant in the processing of building permits at the City Development Supervision Agency.

He said that since his promotion as head of the office in 1992, much progress has been made, as can be seen from the many applications for permits.

"Annually, my agency issues about 17,000 building permits, 70 percent higher than the annual figure before my promotion," he said.

Total contributions from permit processing reached Rp 46 billion (US$20.9 million) last year, far exceeding a target, set by the city administration, of Rp 35 billion, he said.

Suharto added that the contribution in the first four month of the current 1995/1996 fiscal year has reached Rp 15 billion.

In the same period, he said that he sees a decrease in the number of violations conducted by applicants.

Suharto also said that most of the violations dealt with administrative processing, in which developers or building owners, who are still in the process of applying for the permits, had started the construction of their projects.

"The total amount of fines collected this fiscal year is Rp 8.28 billion," he said, adding that the highest single fine was set at Rp 800 million.

When asked about the numbering of houses in the city being poor, Suharto said that his office does not have enough in the budget to conduct proper numbering of houses, especially outside real estate complexes.

"The budget for house numbering is too small and it is difficult to implement it in every part of Jakarta," he said. (yns)