Gas station project under fire

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)