Housing Minister floats plan to study river-top housing concept
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Housing and Residential Areas (PKP) Maruarar Sirait has opened discussions on a plan to study the concept of housing built above rivers.
“Please pray for a breakthrough. If I may say so, let it not become a polemic, but one day there may be a breakthrough, for example how we might start thinking about building houses, three or four storeys with steel, without needing a lift, but above the rivers or canals that exist. Pray for us. Perhaps many now say it is impossible, perhaps today many say it is unthinkable, but because land is getting more expensive, I see there are many canals,” said Maruarar, known as Ara, in his statement in Jakarta on Saturday.
According to him, the matter would first be studied or examined, particularly regarding regulation and legality.
As is known, Law No. 17 of 2019 on Water Resources states that a River Basin is a land area that forms a single unit with the river and its tributaries, functioning to collect, store, and channel water originating from rainfall to a lake or the sea naturally, with land boundaries being topographical separators and sea boundaries extending to waters still affected by land activities.
Furthermore, Article 17 paragraph 1 of Government Regulation No. 38 of 2011 stipulates that if the results of the study referred to in Article 16 paragraph (2) regarding the study on determining boundary lines show that there are buildings within the river boundary, those buildings shall be declared in status quo and must be gradually brought into order to restore the function of the river boundary.
“We shall see. We shall see, one of the ideas is like that. We shall see later, of course it must not violate regulations. That is my number one study, not to violate regulations,” said Ara.
Aspects related to regulation and legality, according to him, are likely to be the priority of the study. In addition, other aspects to be examined include construction studies, pricing, and all other aspects related to housing.
“Please pray that hopefully in two to three months I can present the concept to the public, how the figures are calculated, how much steel is needed, how the regulations work. We need breakthroughs, as I said, please pray for us,” said Ara.
Nevertheless, Ara stressed that the matter depends on public approval, and he would not force it.
“I do not want to answer this question now, but in three months I will explain. If the people agree, if the numbers work, we will proceed. I will not force it. I think we must think of many breakthrough things for the good of this country,” he asserted.
He said that the consideration of increasingly expensive and limited land prices is a factor behind the proposal to study the concept of housing above rivers.