Housing developer fiasco upsets teachers

JAKARTA (JP): At least 20 teachers complained at the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute's office on Monday about a private developer's alleged failure to build houses they bought on an installment basis.

The teachers' spokesman, Darminto Surapati, said they demanded that PT Bumi Mutiara Utama, the developer, return their down payments of Rp 3 million (US$400) and Rp 4 million.

Darminto said that the developer had promised to build the houses in Bumi Mutiara Indah complex in Cibeber village, Bogor.

"We saved our money for long time to buy houses for our retirement. But now we have lost hope," said Darminto, who claimed to represent over 80 teachers of elementary, junior high and senior high schools in Jakarta.

He said the teachers paid down payments for 36-square-meter houses to the developer at the Jakarta office of the Ministry of Education and Culture on Oct. 4, 1994.

But they were later disappointed at learning that Bank Papan Sejahtera, which originally agreed to extend housing loans, refused to disburse the money due to the limited number of customers, he said.

The bank said that besides the limited number of customers, the developer concentrated only on houses of low quality, Darminto said, adding that most of the site remained undeveloped.

He said the buyers were invited to sign purchasing agreements at a ceremony, which was also attended by then minister of public housing Akbar Tandjung and other officials, at the city office of the Ministry of Education and Culture on Dec. 23, last year.

However, the teachers refused to show up at the suggestion of the bank, he said.

Some of the teachers frequently visited the project site, but there was no sign as to when construction would start, he said.

When they asked the developer to return their down payments, its representatives said the company had no funds to do so, said Darminto. (jun)