Low-cost apartment tenants protest daily rent hike

JAKARTA (JP): A delegation of some 30 tenants of the Penjaringan low-cost apartment in North Jakarta protested on Thursday the daily rent increase by city-owned property developer PD Sarana Pembangunan Jaya.

"We come from low-income families. It's hard for us to pay the new fees in the current economic situation," spokesman to the apartment tenants, Andi Jefruddin, told city councillors of Commission D for development affairs in a meeting.

"We will continue paying the rent accordingly to the old rate until the economic condition recovers," he said.

Commission secretary Bimo Hastoro supported the tenants stance, saying that they had the right to reject the hike.

Ironically, although they claimed to be from the lower-income brackets, some delegation members were seen talking to their colleagues through their cellular phones.

PD Sarana Pembangunan Jaya management said later in the afternoon that the hike was inevitable as it had to cover the subsidies for the tenants, which amounted to 40 percent of its revenue, and also to anticipate possible losses.

The company's head of rental flat department, Soejarto, said it decided to hike the daily rental fee from June.

"But, we will give a 40 percent discount from the new fee until December," he said in a media conference.

The fee varies accordingly to the apartment's size and type. A flat of 18 square meters, for example, rents for Rp 1,200 (13 US cents) to Rp 2,550 a day. The new rental fee is between Rp 2,100 and Rp 3,240 a day.

The company manages 3,300 low-cost apartments in seven locations in the city. Other locations are in Pondok Kelapa, Pondok Bambu, and Cipinang subdistricts in East Jakarta, and Jati Rawa Sari, Karang Anyar and Tambora subdistricts in Central Jakarta.

Soejarto said the tenants did not have the grounds to protest the new fees as most of them had agreed on the fee hike.

"Only some tenants in Penjaringan have refused to pay the higher fee. We have 13 blocks in Penjaringan and only tenants of E, F, and G blocks rejected the hike," he said.

"Meanwhile, tenants in Tambora have asked for more discount from the new rental fees.

"But, we have yet to decide on the request because we have given a 40 percent discount from June until December," he added.

He revealed that the company loses Rp 150 million to Rp 200 million per month to subsidize all the units.

"The company has to pay the utility bills which haven't been raised since 1988, while the providers have hiked their rates several times," he said.

"Besides, the tenants of the three blocks have never paid for the service," he added.

Separately, company development director Kemal Basha told The Jakarta Post that the tenants didn't pay for taxes, sinking fund, or depreciation.

"The company has to pay all of those expenses. The tenants should pay for the facilities they have been using," he said.

"We have also asked the central government to abolish the taxes on low-cost rental flats, but to no avail," Kemal added.

He said managing the low-cost rental apartments was not a revenue center, but more a burden to the company.

"Imagine, there is no other place in the world where you can get a room with all the utilities, a kitchen, and a bathroom for only 15 US cents per day," he said.

"Managing the low-cost apartments is not our core business, but we have to do it because the city administration says so. Still, we have to be sure we don't suffer losses from the business," he added.

Kemal welcomed Penjaringan tenants' demand that the management of the low-cost apartments be transferred to the City Housing Agency, which also manages several low-cost apartments.

"It will be a relief for us because we don't have to pay the subsidy anymore," Kemal said. (nvn)