Govt upholds plans to build apartments in Tebet slums
JAKARTA (JP): South Jakarta Mayor Pardjoko confirmed yesterday that the municipality will not drop its plan to build apartments on the site of last month's fire in Tebet and promised that all slums in the city will ultimately be destroyed.
"We will go ahead with the plan to build apartments on the fire site," the mayor told reporters.
Around 230 makeshift houses in a one-hectare slum in West Tebet subdistrict were set ablaze on May 11.
Ever since, the fire victims have been in the spotlight thanks to their strong opposition to the municipal plan to build low- cost apartment there, saying they will be too expensive for them. Instead they demanded that they be allowed to rebuild their houses razed by the inexplicable fire.
The opposition by the residents came to a head on June 1 when they successfully defended themselves from an eviction gang of around 300 officers deployed by the city administration. They threw stones at the officers in a physical clash in which several officers were injured.
Pardjoko said in the wake of the clash the mayor and some senior residents of the fire site have held discussions to find a solution.
"They said they would accept the apartment plan under several conditions, including if the quality is good. I then told them to join the team who design the apartments. Now they are no longer opposed to the plan," said Pardjoko.
Compensation
He said the mayoralty is still waiting for the team of land assessment to estimate the compensation each resident is entitled to receive for the appropriation of their land, before the construction of the apartments starts.
The price each fire victim family should pay for each unit at the apartment would be subtracted from the amount of compensation they are to obtain.
"So far, the residents have insisted their land be valued at Rp 2 million (US$931) per square meter. I think it is not realistic. No one would buy it at such high price because it is state land," said Pardjoko.
The municipality will build 130 apartments at the fire site, each measuring 18 square meters. Each unit will cost around Rp 11 million ($5,123) which can be paid for fifteen years in installments.
The basement will serve as a marketplace open to the residents, who are mostly traders.
Pardjoko said only 140 of the 230 fire victim families own land there. "Thus only 140 families are entitled to apartment units. The rest are tenants and as such do not deserve to have apartment units."
Each family will be given Rp 400,000 (US$186) to rent houses elsewhere, pending the completion of the apartments.
"I expect it will take only around four months to construct the apartments," said Pardjoko.
The mayor said aside from the fire site, the mayoralty will also gradually demolish a slum located nearby for a similar purpose that the fortuitous fire made possible.
"All slum areas will be gradually wiped out to be replaced by apartments. This is in keeping with the instructions of Governor Surjadi Sudirja," said the mayor.(jsk)