Investor to come to Bongkaran

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)