Investor to come to Bongkaran

JAKARTA (JP): A private investor lurks behind the government's plan to relocate squatters in Central Jakarta's subdistrict of Tanah Abang Bongkaran, an official from the state-owned railway company Perumka confirmed on Monday.

"Yes, the proposal is ready. It is being sent to Perumka headquarters in Bandung," Eddy Sasongko, Perumka deputy operation manager, said in reply to questions fielded by reporters.

He said the private investor would like to build a business district in the area. Eddy, however, refused to name the investor or whether it was a domestic or foreign one.

Eddy also did not elaborate on what would happen to the squatters once they were expelled from the land.

"Well, we will deal with that question later," he said.

Eddy said the business district "would not be built in the near future".

This contradicts what Central Jakarta Mayor Andi S. Abdullah said earlier in the day. He said, "It would be built in the near future."

City government officials visited the subdistrict on Saturday to measure the land prior to building semipermanent public utilities and relocating the squatters. The subdistrict is notorious for gambling and prostitution, and is a popular hangout for hoodlums at night.

The measuring of the half-hectare plot upset the squatters as well as the plans to relocate them. Some of the squatters claimed to have lived on the land, which belongs to Perumka, for more than 10 years.

A scheduled meeting between the squatters and government officials, including Perumka officials, in Central Jakarta mayoralty on Monday was canceled.

"I was not aware that there was going to be a meeting with squatters from Tanah Abang Bongkaran," Mayor Andi told reporters in his office.

He added the government would not give any compensation to the squatters but would offer vocational training, such as sewing courses, to prostitutes in the area, and a guidance course on small trading businesses to other squatters. (04)