Fire guts wooden shack at Mulia Senayan Hotel

JAKARTA (JP): A fire gutted a three-story wooden bunkhouse used to accommodate construction workers at the Mulia Senayan Hotel site on Jl. Asia Afrika, Jakarta Saturday.

Saturday's fire was the third ever to take place at the hotel. The first fire occurred on July 31, while the second took place on Aug. 28. No fatalities have been reported for all three fires.

Seven fire engines were deployed on Saturday to put out the fire which started at about 12:30 p.m., a fireman said.

One of the firemen's leader, Sunaryo, said his men arrived at the fire site at around 12:50 p.m. and found that the fire had already gutted the whole structure of around 630 square meters.

"There's not much that we can do to put out the fire, because the building was made from wood which is very flammable," Sunaryo told The Jakarta Post.

He said the cause of the fire was still under investigation.

He said an official told him that the bunkhouse was scheduled to be demolished at 1 p.m. because the site would be used for the construction of other buildings.

"But I heard that a foolish worker played with fire which then spread to other parts of the building," he said.

Police said no one had so far been held responsible for the incident.

Construction workers said that most of them had left the bunkhouse for their new accommodation in the car park building.

A worker named Mashur said several workers had just packed their things up when the fire suddenly engulfed the quarters.

"Some of our belongings could not be saved. But what can we say, the fire has burned them and there is nothing we can do about it," he said.

This last fire has taken place amid reports that there has been a violation regarding the development of the hotel.

Based on the block plan for the Mulia Senayan Hotel project, jointly signed by the Jakarta governor and the state secretaryminister sometime ago, the project was allowed to consist of only 16 stories. In reality, however, the hotel is 40 stories, a city official said Friday.

The official who asked not to be named also said that a permit to build a skyscraper with more than 32 levels can only be issued by the city governor after serious consideration, involving related parties and institutions, as stated in city law No. 4/1974.

The US$240 million hotel with 1,008 rooms is owned by the Bimantara Group, which is controlled by President Soeharto's second son Bambang Trihatmodjo. It has been built in less than nine months with up to 6,500 people working on the site daily.

President Soeharto presided over the hotel's grand opening on Sept. 20. (07/cst)