Land agency firm on building permits for suburban areas
Land agency firm on building permits for suburban areas
JAKARTA (JP): The National Land Agency has instructed its
offices in West Java to stop issuing permits to developers who
want to build housing complexes in Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi.
One of the agency's public relations officers confirmed
yesterday that the instruction issued on Oct. 3, 1996, has been
sent to its offices.
The instruction was reportedly issued based on the number of
housing projects planned for 92,298 hectares of land. The agency
said that the number of permits issued should suffice until 2018.
Earlier, the agency, headed by State Minister of Agrarian
Affairs Soni Harsono, halted additional construction in
industrial zones as well.
The latest instruction was formulated after evaluations were
conducted by the Coordination Body of Spatial Plans, which is
under the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), and
other related offices.
The agency's regional offices have issued permits for 92,298
hectares of the 159,780 hectares of land designated for housing
complexes in Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi.
However, only 13,276 hectares have been used for housing.
Soni said the agency's offices should take an inventory of the
sites with permits, with expired permits and those with no
permits at all. The offices are also to list the certificates
obtained and not with sites have been built on.
One of the agency's public relations officers would not say if
the instruction is related to Bappenas' efforts to preserve the
water catchment areas in West Java's mountain resorts, which are
upstream from the Ciliwung river.
Siswoko, the Ministry of Public Works official who heads the
Ciliwung-Cisadane river basin development project, admitted that
building activities are hard to stop in attractive sites.
However, he said, "building should commence only after thorough
environmental impact studies (Amdal) have been conducted."
Amdal studies are mandatory but don't pay enough attention to
the physical and hydrological effects of construction, Siswoko
said. As a result, floods continue to occur, even though the
ministry continues to build dams and repair pump stations.
Because of excessive building activity in West Java, he said,
many of its 193 lakes are no longer able to function as water
catchment sites.
"The lakes were mostly created in the Dutch colonial era," he
said, adding that the ministry now has to "rehabilitate" them.
Future projects in the Ciliwung river basin, which covers
40,000 hectares, should incorporate ways to provide catchment
areas, he said.
Control of the Ciliwung's upstream area, he said, should also
be extended to activities in the largest, middle part of the
river basin, which covers 19,000 hectares.
The river basin in Tokyo, Japan, he said, is also densely
populated but includes residential roads that enable the
temporary catchment of rainwater.
"Officials and the public there are also disciplined enough to
follow the rules," he said. (anr)