Govt prepares land ownership guideline rules
Govt prepares land ownership guideline rules
JAKARTA (JP): The government is working on guidelines to
regulate land ownership and the location of housing complexes and
industrial estates, a minister said here Tuesday.
State Minister of Housing and Settlement Theo L. Sambuaga said
the guidelines would not only affect future housing projects but
would also apply to existing projects which had been issued
permits.
"Based on the principle of function, efficiency and fairness,
the government is currently formulating guidelines to adjust the
ownership of large plots and to control land ownership in the
future," he said in a hearing with the House of Representatives.
The new guidelines will regulate land allocation and
acquisition, and will limit land ownership, he told House
Commission IV for public works, transportation, communications
and public housing.
He said this would also enable the government to control the
development of housing and industrial complexes according to city
planning.
Theo said all commercial projects must comply with city
planning and must provide social justice to surrounding
communities.
Many housing developments in Jakarta are located close to poor
neighborhoods and exclude themselves from the less prosperous
communities surrounding them.
Most large properties in Greater Jakarta which are controlled
by big private developers have triggered social problems in their
communities, he said.
For example, they contribute little to the welfare of the
people in their neighborhood and offer few job opportunities to
local residents, he said.
Theo said the government might also review permits which had
already been issued to see whether they comply with city
planning, land allocation and other regulations and whether they
generate social justice in their surroundings.
Theo said developers who had not developed their properties
must abide by the government's recent regulation which requires
owners of unused land to allow the unemployed to grow crops on
their property.
Land which cannot be used to grow crops could be used as
public sports areas according to the regulation, Theo said.
The property sector is one of the hardest hit sectors since
the rupiah plunged by over 80 percent in value against the U.S.
dollar this past year.
Along with declining purchasing power, property sales have
plunged dramatically, while developers are mired deep in dollar-
denominated debts.
Property consultant Panangian Simanungkalit estimates that
outstanding loans issued to the country's property sector reach
Rp 40 trillion (US$3.64 billion), 25 percent of the country's
total outstanding bank loans of Rp 180 trillion.
Most of the loans were used by developers to aggressively
develop commercial property projects and to finance land
acquisitions.
Panangian said 87,000 hectares of land in Greater Jakarta
currently lay idle.
Many companies are also no longer able to proceed with their
initial development plans because prices of construction
materials had soared dramatically. (das)