Ineligible people own many low-cost houses

Ineligible people own many low-cost houses

JAKARTA (JP): Housing experts have urged the government to be
stricter in selecting which people should be given priority in
renting the low-cost houses in view of the fact that many cheap
houses built with subsidies from the government have been bought
by "house brokers or speculators".

Suradi Wongsohartono, a former president of state-owned
housing company Perumnas, said in a seminar on housing on Monday
that the government should take stern action against such people
because many cheap houses and flats in Jakarta and Depok,
intended mainly for low-income consumers, were owned by middle-
income people.

The seminar, attended by about one hundred officials from
Jakarta, Bekasi, Tangerang and Bogor administrations was held to
commemorate the 20th anniversary of Perumnas this year. The
state-owned company, which was established on July 20, 1974, has
constructed about 293,000 low-cost dwellings, including
apartments, and is planning to build as many as 250,000 more
dwellings over the next four years.

These middle-income owners later rent their apartments to
other people.

"Many people living in the Kemayoran low-cost apartments in
Central Jakarta are tenants, who already have their own houses
outside the city," Suradi said.

He said many people, who have houses outside the city,
preferred to live in the rented dwellings so as to be closer to
their workplaces.

Prabowo, an inhabitant of the Kebon Kacang flats in Central
Jakarta, concurred that many of the flats are owned by "small
investors."

"The flats are rented to low-income foreign workers and
cohabiting couples. This is raising `social jealousy' among
people living in slum areas near the flat complex," he said.

He said that many apartment and housing complexes built by
Perumnas end up looking like slums because of their poor
maintenance.

Prabowo also said that almost all flat complexes in the city
have no social and public facilities such as mosques, churches,
recreation and sports centers.

"This is clearly against the regulations issued by the city
administration requiring developers to build such facilities in
their housing projects," he said.

Responding to the complaints, head of the city's office in
charge of housing affairs Ongki Sukasa said the government should
issue a regulation barring people from selling low-cost houses
built with subsidies from the government.

"People making such transactions should be brought to court on
criminal charges," he said.

In a related development, the city administration in
cooperation with Perumnas, has started building low-cost flats
for rent for low-income people.

"Perumnas is constructing 2,000 units of low cost flats for
rent in East Cengkareng, West Jakarta, and they will be marketed
as of next July," Ongki said .

Chief of Perumnas' Jakarta branch office, M. Latief
Malangyudo, said the flats would be rented out for Rp 60,000 per
month each and only low-income people were eligible to rent them.

"This is a pilot project... if it is successful, more such
flats will be built in other parts of the city and the rental may
be raised in accordance with the inflation rate," he said.

He said it was unlikely that his company would build houses
located inside the city and its outskirts, such as Tangerang and
Bekasi, because of the high price of land in those areas.

Ongki said the flats were being built on state land because of
the soaring price of privately-owned land in the city.

"It is now impossible to build low-cost flats in the city
because the land price has reached Rp 500,000 at the lowest per
square meter. The only way of providing cheap housing for low-
income people is to build flats for rent," he said.

He said Perumnas was permitted to utilize state land in the
city for housing, but the land would revert to the government
after 20 years. (rms)