Land agency modifies plot survey policy

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta office of the National Land Agency wants Jakartans applying for land certificates to include potential neighbors in the process in order to prevent arduous and time-consuming processing delays.

Head of the office Sunar Sastroredjo said over the weekend that such "collective" applications enable his office to process the papers faster because surveys of the plots of land in question can be done more easily with access to previous measurement records for adjacent plots.

He expects this system, in which the potential owner of a plot of land submits the application along with the owners or potential owners of adjacent plots, to eliminate disputes arising due to imprecise information on the borders of plots of land.

He acknowledged that constraints faced in doing detailed, accurate surveys of plots hinder land certification. "Many officers frequently have difficulties in determining the exact land borders for a single land plot due to lack of easy access to the people owning the neighboring plot, who have the authority to make a settlement on any unclear border," he said.

"The delay in the measuring of certain plots of land means that the processing takes a longer period of time," Sunar was quoted by Suara Pembaruan daily as saying.

Such delays can be minimized through the "collective applications because land owners, who are eager to have their land certificates cleared as soon as possible, could be more easily reached to settle any border dispute," he said.

Sunar guaranteed that any application done under the "collective land certificate processing system" can be completed within about four months.

"It will depend somewhat on what papers are necessary for the certificate processing, based on the city planning agency's policy," he said.

He added that he was certain that as long as all requirements were fulfilled, the processing could be facilitated under the new system.

Sunar also said that his office has applied a new computerized system, designed to help facilitate the processing of all applications.

Sunar said that now all applications are processed automatically.

"Don't worry, all applications will be processed. I monitor the progress of this processing in the monthly meeting," he said. (yns)