Land acquisition bogs down canal project
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration blamed residents near the site of the proposed East Flood Canal for the slow progress in its construction, arguing that the price demanded for land acquisition was too high.
In response to the City Council's criticism of his annual budget speech, Governor Sutiyoso said on Tuesday that, as a consequence, the administration had made little progress in clearing the land to build the canal.
"Our main obstacle lies in the amount of compensation required. Almost all the land and building owners on the canal site have demanded a higher price than the taxable value of the property (NJOP)," he told the Council's plenary session.
So far, the administration has only managed to acquire 50.8 hectares of land, or only 16 percent of the total 316 hectares of land required for the project.
The planned canal is necessary to help ease flooding in the eastern part of the city. The 23.5-kilometer-long canal will stretch from Cipinang in East Jakarta to Marunda in North Jakarta.
Projected to be 100-meters wide and five-meters deep, the Canal will link five rivers in the capital: the Cipinang, Sunter, Jati Kramat, Buaran and Cakung rivers.
Sutiyoso said the administration had allotted Rp 150 billion (US$17.6 million) from the 2004 city budget to acquire another 25 hectares of land.
The total fund for land acquisition is Rp 2.4 trillion, while the construction will cost Rp 2.5 trillion. The construction will be financed by the Ministry of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure.
Although he failed to cite the market price of the land and the price demanded by the residents, Sutiyoso claimed the fund would not be sufficient.
"We cannot simply meet the demanded price as the regulation prohibits us from giving compensation higher than the market value."
He was referring to Article 15 of Presidential Decree No. 55/1993 on land procurement for the development of public facilities, which states that the calculation of the compensation is based on the latest NJOP evaluation.
City spokesman Muhayat said the administration was now drafting a decree that would formulate a win-win solution in deciding the amount of compensation for land procurement for public facilities.
"The draft is ready to be signed by the governor," he said, but declined to mention any points included in the decree.
A source close to the construction project disclosed that "land mafia" with strong capital would make the price of land soar in a certain area that is about to be used for public facilities.
"They have access to information about the location of a project as well as the power to make government officials include the land they own in the project blueprint," the source said.