Jakarta to have new police headquarters

By K. Basrie

JAKARTA (JP): If everything goes well, the old Jakarta Police headquarters building will soon disappear.

The 35-year-old building near the southern part of the Semanggi cloverleaf intersection, facing both Jl. Jend. Sudirman and Jl. Gatot Subroto, will be torn down.

A modern police headquarters will be built in its place.

As part of the government's efforts to modernize the Police Force, the new City Police headquarters will be completely different to the current building.

It will consist of a 10-story main building, twin 23-story towers, twin eight-story buildings, a three-story auditorium and an eight-story officer apartment building.

Except for the apartments, all the buildings will share an inner courtyard. Each of the buildings will have a three-floor basement.

By comparison, the only "high-rise" at the old headquarters complex is the six-story main building where senior officials, including chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata, have their offices.

"The project might be started shortly after the general election (in May) and is scheduled to be completed in two years," National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo told The Jakarta Post last week.

On a separate occasion, the National Police's director for logistics, Brig. Gen. Suseno, said the new building would be constructed by PT Keraton Plaza Saranatama, based on a PT Encona Engineering Inc. design.

"Both are local privately owned companies," Suseno told the Post.

The project is to be developed by PT Mandala Pratama Permai, which last year signed a land barter agreement with the Police Force.

Under the agreement, the developer -- owned by businessman Hutomo Mandala Putra -- will take ownership of 6.5 hectares of the total 14.5-hectare tract on which the City Police headquarters now stands.

In return, Mandala Pratama will build the new police headquarters on the remaining eight-hectare plot facing Jl. Gatot Subroto, which currently houses the Jakarta Traffic Police Directorate.

According to the agreement, Mandala Pratama will also provide 50 hectares of land in Serpong, south of Jakarta, for a housing development project for police officers and their families.

On the 6.5-hectare site facing Jl. Sudirman, the developer intends to build a business center, hotel, apartments, shopping centers and other commercial facilities.

According to Brig. Gen. Suseno, the new buildings will occupy only six hectares of the eight-hectare site.

"We might use the other two hectares for business offices, which could be rented to other parties," Suseno said.

Layout

According to a tentative plan designed by Encona Engineering Inc., the main building of the new headquarters will be occupied by the city's top-ranking officers, such as the chief, deputy chief and heads of several nonoperational directorates.

Each of the 23-story towers and the eight-story building located on the left will be used for a wide range of public services.

The right tower and building will be used for operational activities.

The auditorium will face the main building. At the back of the auditorium, the developer will provide a football field, a sports center and a mosque.

The basements will be used for several purposes, including parking.

People going to the new headquarters will be able to use the main entrance gate on Jl. Gatot Subroto or enter from the Sudirman Central Business District complex.

Services related to vehicle documents will no longer be provided at the new headquarters. The driver's license bureau has already moved to a new building on Jl. Daan Mogot, West Jakarta.

The veterans' Granadha building, across from the headquarter's Jl. Gatot Subroto entrance, will be used as a temporary office while the new premises are being built.

According to City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata, the new building is a necessity for the Jakarta Police in a superhighway era.

"Such a modern building might also help motivate the police to work harder and urge the public to get closer to the police which, in turn, could reduce crimes," Hamami said.

He said the ugliness of police headquarters daunted people and put them off going there to report crimes.

Besides the modernization of its headquarters, the City Police will continue efforts to build adequate housing for its 15,000 personnel and their families, said Hamami.

"But we have to do it slowly due to financial restraints," he said.