Former Kemayoran residents left in limbo
JAKARTA (JP): Former Kemayoran district residents who were displaced for a controversial development project are asking councilors to force the developer to realize its plan and pay higher compensation, or give them their land back.
About 40,000 people have been affected for development of a new satellite city on 454 hectares of the former Kemayoran airport in Central Jakarta. But about 20,000 residents remain on the site and only a few buildings of the planned city have been constructed since its inception in 1990.
In a meeting with councilors Tuesday, about 60 representatives of the group also demanded the city administration review the Kota Baru Bandar Kemayoran project plan.
Group spokesman Rahardjo said the residents were often terrorized by people identifying themselves as members of a land clearance board for the project.
They often used the names of former president Soeharto and former state secretary Moerdiono in threatening the residents.
"They always use those names to scare us. They have tried to drive us off the land since 1990, using all manner of coercion and political approaches," he told members of Commission A for administration, security, land and government affairs.
The project is controlled by the State Secretary, in which Moerdiono was appointed the first chairman of a special body in his then ministerial capacity.
The body supervises the land clearance board and a consortium, PT Megacity Development Corporation, whose members consist of privately run Gajah Tunggal Group, Napan Group and Amcol Group.
Residents claim the project would not be limited to the airport site, but also cover an area occupied by about 62,000 families who have resided there for many years.
"So far, only 20,000 families remain at the site," Rahardjo said.
Land clearance board members turned down the residents' wishes to discuss a reasonable amount of compensation.
"They merely kept on launching their campaigns to let us know that the state project would be started in early 1990," Rahardjo said.
"They never bargained with us about the price but suddenly issued the price estimation notice in 1991."
The body then priced the land occupied by the residents at what the latter considered the very low amount of Rp 75,000 (US$5.35) per square meter.
"Even the state-owned port management company PT Pelindo, which at that time also cleared some lands near to ours, set the compensation for the local residents at Rp 1,2 million per square meter." lurch
Status
Rahardjo said there had been no construction work on the project since it began eight years ago, and families now wanted to know its status.
"We've been living in uncertainty throughout the years.
"If the developer plans to continue the project, then please set new land compensation for us. If it doesn't, then let us live there."
Several highrise apartment buildings have been built at the site, but the project's master plan -- which has been estimated to cost Rp 5 trillion -- also included construction of more apartments, public facilities like sports halls, places of worship, hospitals, schools and shopping centers.
Commission A head Hotma Tambunan said the commission's hands were tied on the issue of reviewing the project because it was not under its jurisdiction.
"It's actually made by the central government. I can't say anything about it. We just don't know whether the government will proceed with the plan," he said.
"It's not that we have taken sides with the board, but the project will have some public facilities, including low-cost apartments, which will be useful for public."
The councilor promised to discuss the compensation disagreement with the land clearance board. (cst)