Govt to evict hundreds to build shopping mall
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Hundreds of families living in makeshift houses in Kebon Kosong subdistrict in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, are to be evicted as the land will be used for the construction of a shopping mall.
The land, where the shanties are located, is part of a vast tract of land owned by the Kemayoran New Town Authority (DPPPKK), a state agency which is controlled by the State Secretariat.
"I can't say when the eviction will take place but it will definitely be conducted by the Jakarta Public Order Agency," an employee of DPPPKK, who requested anonymity, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
The state land in Kemayoran, which formerly served as a domestic airport, was opened to the public for investment in 1991 after the Jakarta Fairground was built there.
In the early 1990s, DPPPKK purchased about 36 hectares of land outside the airport compound from local residents.
As several families refused to sell their land, DPPPKK could not fence off the land that it had purchased. Consequently, some squatters started to occupy the land, building makeshift houses and even establishing small-scale businesses there.
"Several former residents who were disappointed with the amount of compensation paid by DPPPKK during the previous eviction in 1999 also returned to the land," said a former squatter, Toto, not his real name.
He said that DPPPKK had given the squatters notices to leave the land but they apparently ignored the notices.
"We have heard from several officials that the land would be offered to investors for the construction of a shopping mall," he said.
The squatters were among more than 2,500 families to be evicted by the Jakarta administration after Idul Fitri, which fell on Nov. 25 and Nov. 26.
The city had earlier evicted over 2,000 families prior to the Ramadhan fasting month in West Jakarta and North Jakarta municipalities.
The planned shopping mall will add to the ongoing construction of Megaglodok Kemayoran, which is expected to open in July 2005. The new integrated business center will comprise a mall, two office buildings and two towers consisting of apartments, a hotel and offices.
Earlier this month, a real estate project in Kemayoran sparked controversy as it involved President Megawati Soekarnoputri's son, Mohammad Rizky Pratama, better known as Tatam. Tatam was alleged to have been awarded the Rp 1.3 trillion (US$153 million) project.
Toto said that many residents in Kebon Kosong felt they were cheated by the government because they only received meager payment for their land.
"My parents' house and land was purchased in 1992 by DPPPKK at Rp 175,000 per square meter because my parents had a land ownership certificate then. My neighbors who only owned girik (a land title that has less legal power than the certificate) only received Rp 75,000 per square meter," he said.
"Later, we came to know that DPPPKK sold the land to (state owned housing company) Perum Perumnas for Rp 2 million per square meter," he added. "My family felt cheated, of course."
Toto said that his parents later purchased some land in Bekasi but he continued to live in Kebon Kosong with a relative who rented a house there.
DPPPKK land that was purchased by Perum Perumnas is also now occupied by squatters.
Previously, Perumnas's president director Latief Malangyudo said that the company had also planned to clear its land of squatters but he did not specify what the land would be used for.