Hotel Mulia project to go ahead

JAKARTA (JP): The municipality has no objection to the construction of Hotel Mulia Senayan's controversial second tower even though it is located in a green area, in Central Jakarta, an official said yesterday.

The head of the city's planning agency, Ahmaddin Ahmad, said there is no problem with the proposed location of the hotel's 56- story apartment project.

"If we look at the bigger picture, the construction of the hotel's tower is not a problem because other high-rise buildings have already been constructed there," he said.

Ahmaddin cited other multistory buildings in the Senayan area, including Hilton Hotel, Plaza Senayan, Ratu Plaza and Manggala Wanabhakti.

Hotel Mulia was widely criticized recently when it became known that it was located in a green area and the first tower violated its high-rise building permit.

Instead of constructing a 16-story building, the management turned it into a 40-story hotel and will have to pay a fine to the city administration for the breach.

A representative of the hotel's management, Enggartiasto Lukita, said earlier this week that the planned construction of the 56-story tower was to be delayed due to the current monetary crisis.

Enggartiasto said the hotel would only be fined for the second tower but Ahmaddin maintained that the management should pay a Rp 92.8 billion (US$28.55 million) fine if it goes ahead with the second tower.

"But until now the management has not paid a single cent toward the fine," Ahmaddin said.

Hotel Mulia Senayan was erected on a four-hectare plot of land in Senayan which was earmarked as a green area.

Ahmaddin said the then governor had allowed the hotel management to build the 40-story tower -- instead of the approved 16 stories -- to accommodate some 1,800 athletes participating in the 19th SEA Games last month.

"If it was built with only 16 stories, the hotel would only have a capacity of some 300 rooms. It was not enough."

Ahmaddin said the then governor agreed with the construction of the second tower.

Chairman of the City Council's Indonesian Democratic Party faction, Lukman Mokoginta, reiterated his opposition yesterday to the planned tower.

"Previously, the reason given was to accommodate the SEA Games athletes. The games are over, why then does the management still want to build the second tower."

Lukman said that he did not agree with Ahmaddin's big picture view of the construction.

"The problem is that the city needs green areas.

"The governor should be bold enough to stop construction work on the second tower," he said. (ind)