Gas station project under fire

JAKARTA (JP): The City Planning Agency and the City Supervision and Construction Agency are in hot water after granting a permit to a businessman to construct a gas station on Jl. Gunung Sahari, Central Jakarta, which will partly occupies government land.

Head of Central Jakarta's Park Agency, Agung Sukaton, said on Tuesday that the two agencies had overlooked the existence of a bus shelter and seven big trees, which are on a sidewalk in front of the planned station.

"The City Planning Agency, which recommended the issuance of the permit, and the city supervision and construction agency, which issued the permit, did not check the location before granting the approval for the construction of the gas station," Agung said.

The construction of the station, which is owned by businessman Fajri Setiawan, will cause the destruction of at least three of the seven trees, each with a diameter of around 60 centimeters.

A 1988 decree of the city administration rules that any illegal cutting of government trees is punishable by a Rp 50,000 (US$6.25) fine.

Officials from neither agency were available to state grounds for issuing the permit.

An official from the city supervision and construction agency, however, blamed the owner for building the station in violation of the building certificate issued by the government.

"The owner has constructed its underground gasoline tanks precisely under the pumping machines, instead of placing them at the rear part of the land," Rustam Effendi, head of the Kemayoran subdistrict, said on Tuesday.

"The underground tanks can explode if the road lane above is overburdened with weight."

Rustam said he had sealed off the station twice, but the owner continued with the construction.

"I decided to hand over the problem to the Central Jakarta mayor last month," he said.

Central Jakarta mayor, Andi S. Abdullah, separately said that before making a decision he would wait for a report from a team which was evaluating the construction of the station.

"We will probably relocate the gas station as its construction is still ongoing," he told The Jakarta Post.

An official of the construction company, who asked for anonymity, told the Post that he would continue with the construction and cut down the trees as planned. (04)