Housing developer fiasco upsets teachers

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)