Kahfi says apartment construction to go on

JAKARTA (JP): The Central Jakarta mayoralty will allow the developer of the Park Royale apartments on Jl. Gatot Subroto to continue construction as soon as the problems disturbing people living nearby are overcome.

Central Jakarta Mayor Abdul Kahfi said that he would announce the decision to allow resumption of construction after receiving complete progress reports from the Central Jakarta development supervision agency.

Kahfi explained that in a preliminary report from the agency the developer, PT Sari Lembah Hijau, admitted it had failed to anticipate the impact of the project on the people living in the surrounding area.

The developer, he said, had given assurances that it would be more careful in carrying out the project.

"The developer has showed its good intention to solve the problem and has promised to be more careful in the future," Kahfi said, adding that his office would ask the developer to sign an agreement before allowing resumption of the construction.

Residents of the Bendungan Hilir subdistrict in Central Jakarta raised objections to the construction of the apartment complex mainly due to the air pollution emanating from the construction site.

The residents protested to the Central Jakarta mayoralty office complaining that the construction work was too noisy and generating excessive air pollution.

They claimed that the dust from the project was polluting the neighborhood to such an extent that residents were having difficulty keeping their houses clean.

In response to the protest, the Central Jakarta mayoralty warned the developer and temporarily banned the developer from continuing the construction work.

But according to some of the residents the developer has ignored the warning and is going ahead with the construction.

Rio Tambunan, one of the residents, said that the developer ignored the warning by continuing the construction work of the luxurious apartment.

"We intend to file a lawsuit against the developer because the work has harassed and disturbed us," Rio said. (yns)