Low-cost housing developers still allowed to operate
JAKARTA (JP): Developers specializing in low cost housing are to be exempted from an instruction ending permits to developers in Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, chairman of the Association of Indonesian Developers (REI) Edwin Kawilarang said.
Edwin said Saturday this was an agreement reached between REI and the head of the National Land Agency/State Minister of Agrarian Affairs, Soni Harsono, who had instructed REI offices in Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, not to issue new permits for developers in the area.
Soni earlier said the policy had to be taken because the areas were considered to have adequate housing complexes.
The Oct. 3 instruction told the Agency's regional office heads to make an inventory and evaluation of all land permits issued.
Soni had also said that many developers had not yet started their projects even though they had the permits.
"Out of 92,298 hectares for which permits have been issued, only 13,276 hectares have been developed," Soni once said.
Reports said that the instruction had caused an outcry from developers, especially small ones, until Saturday when Jakarta REI ended its second annual convention.
Edwin developers specializing in low cost housing should be able to continue their projects.
Team
He also told REI members the Association's central board and the Agency will soon set up a team to determine which developers deserve punishment for neglecting their land.
Soni had earlier suggested land speculation may have led to the neglect of the plots, but Edwin said this was not easy to decide.
However Edwin said clear evaluation criteria was needed.
"The job of the team will be to set the criteria and then evaluate the developers' work," Edwin said.
The Jakarta branch has around 900 members mostly operating in areas bordering West Java.
The evaluation team should complete its job in two months, said Edwin.
Commenting on the exemption to developers of low cost housing, a REI city branch executive, Soejono, said the criteria of what constitutes low cost housing is not yet uniform.
According to the Ministry of Public Works, this means housing under 200 square meters, while the government-set price of low cost houses is Rp 4.8 million (US$2,037.35)
"In Jakarta's surrounding areas, this would mean 21-square- meter-homes on a 60-square-meter-plot, where land is below Rp 10,000 per square meter," Soejono said.
REI Jakarta's outgoing chairman, Nugroho Suksmanto, told the convention the board has not managed to come up with ways of building low cost homes which will not burden a developer too much.
REI has targeted 500,000 low cost homes to be built from 1994 to 1999, including 10,000 in Jakarta's surrounding areas.
Because of soaring land prices the private sector has not built low cost homes in the city.
Edwin urged the new board for the 1996-1999 period "to be more pro-active" in dealing with "problematic developers."
"Many consumers could be saved," Edwin said, if the board immediately summoned a developer whose project was reported to cause problems.
Governor Surjadi Soedirdja officially closed the convention on Saturday. (anr)