Fire guts wooden shack at Mulia Senayan Hotel
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)