Govt. determined to build apartments for Tebet fire victims.

JAKARTA (JP): The South Jakarta mayoralty will stick to its plan to build low-cost apartments for Tebet fire victims at the fire site despite the victims' strong objections.

"We are committed to improving their standard of living by providing them with decent places to live because the (fire site) area is always inundated by floods during the rainy season and burns frequently during the dry season," Zainuddin, deputy to the South Jakarta mayor, told reporters yesterday.

Zainuddin is at present acting as South Jakarta's mayor pending the return of Mayor Pardjoko from the haj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The deputy mayor made the remarks following reports that the fire victims had turned down a proposal from the South Jakarta mayoralty to build apartment buildings at the fire site. The proposal was forwarded by the mayoralty officials at a meeting with representatives of the fire victims on Saturday evening.

Some 230 houses in the West Tebet subdistrict were gutted by fire Wednesday, leaving around 1,000 people homeless.

"We are happy to live in our own houses although they are crowded. There's no guarantee that life in an apartment will be more comfortable. Thus, let us rebuild our burned premises," Tumar, chief of the neighborhood, was quoted by Pos Kota as saying during the meeting.

Zainuddin said yesterday the mayoralty administration will continue to try to convince the fire victims that it would be better for them to live in an apartment building than in shanties like the ones they had before. "With persuasion we believe our efforts to convince them will pay off in the end," he said.

The plans to build apartments on the fire site do not at all conflict with the 1985-2005 city master plan since the area was designated to be a residential area since a maximum of 80 percent of the land was left undeveloped, he said.

The fire site was part of around 7 hectares of land where the former residents of the Senayan, Central Jakarta, district were relocated in 1961 following the Sukarno administration's plan to build the Senayan stadium.

Zainuddin also denounced any suspicions among the fire victims that the fire was caused "intentionally."

"It is completely untrue. The fire occurred during the day. Everybody could see for themselves where the fire came from," he said.

Under the arrangement already devised by the municipality, he said, each fire victim family would receive funds from the mayoralty administration to be used for renting houses pending the construction of the planned apartments.

Zainuddin said he still has no idea about the amount of the funds, although Idroes, the deputy governor in charge of administrative affairs, was quoted by local papers as saying the amount will be Rp 500,000 (US$232) per year.

Zainuddin, said the mayoralty is presently giving top priority to humanitarian aid programs for the homeless fire victims.

The fire victims are now living with their families, neighbors or in temporary shelters built by the authority near the fire site. (jsk)