Hotel Mulia starts paying penalty, says Sutiyoso
Hotel Mulia starts paying penalty, says Sutiyoso
JAKARTA (JP): The management of five-star Hotel Mulia has
started to pay the Rp 15.37 billion penalty imposed on it, amid
controversy, by the city administration for violating building
height restrictions, Governor Sutiyoso said on Friday.
Sutiyoso said the hotel was paying the penalty in
installments, but he declined to give details on when the payment
started and the amount of each installment.
The governor said the Rp 15.37 billion figure was decided on
after the original amount was reduced by 25 percent on the
request of the hotel, which cited financial difficulties caused
by the current crisis.
"We couldn't fulfill their request of a 75 percent reduction,"
he said.
Last year the hotel management was fined Rp 20.5 billion for
violating city regulations on the maximum height of buildings.
The plans approved for the hotel project, jointly signed by
then Jakarta governor Surjadi Soedirdja and former state
secretary/minister Moerdiono, allowed for construction of a 16-
story structure. But the contractor built the 1,008-room hotel in
40 stories.
The US$240 million hotel was opened in September 1997 by
former president Soeharto. The facility was used to accommodate
athletes competing in the 19th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games held
in October that year.
The hotel management asked the city administration for a 75
percent reduction to the Rp 20.5 billion penalty in November last
year, but the request was rejected by Sutiyoso.
The governor said that one of the administration's
considerations in granting the lesser penalty reduction was that
the management had rendered service to the country by
accommodating the SEA games athletes.
"They told me that actually they were reluctant (to build the
hotel for the sake of the games), but certain parties had forced
them to. We should listen to their contention," he said.
Sutiyoso also denied on Friday allegations that he has
repeatedly delayed the takeover process of two disputed buildings
on Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur in Central Jakarta, owned by
Soeharto's youngest son, Hutomo Mandala Putra, popularly known as
Tommy.
The city administration announced earlier that Tommy's 18-
story Humpuss building and seven-story Timor building had
violated land-use regulations.
Presidential Decree No. 25/1995 on the development of the
Medan Merdeka area forbids private companies from building
offices in the area, including along Jl. Medan Merdeka Timur.
The area is designed to be a buffer zone from development for
Medan Merdeka Park, where the National Monument (Monas) stands.
"We are waiting for the central government's decision on
whether to take over the properties if the company fails to pay
its Rp 3 trillion debt to the government, the deadline of which
will fall on March 26," he said.
He said the administration would immediately take over the
Humpuss and Timor buildings if the government decided it should
do so. (ind)