Management tender to open for historical heritage

Management tender to open for historical heritage

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Culture and Museum Agency will open bidding for
companies interested in managing a heritage building on Jl. Teuku
Umar 1, Central Jakarta, as an art-and-cultural-show venue.

"We offer companies the chance to be serious bidders to make
use of the building as a cultural venue. However, the winner of
the bidding would be allowed to operate and develop relevant
businesses at the site, such as a restaurant or a cafe," said
Suryadi, an agency official responsible for the promotion of
heritage buildings.

However, he failed to mention the exact date of the tender,
saying that the agency was still deciding upon it.

The building concerned was designed by Dutch architect Pieter
Adriaan Jocobus Moojen in 1912, and construction started that
same year. It was previously named the Netherlands-Indische
Kunstkring (the Netherlands-India Art Circle). The building
served as the Jakarta Immigration Office until 1997, before the
ownership was handed over to private developer PT Mandala Griya
Cipta in 1998.

The developer managed to take over the building from the
government through a land-swap deal. The company had planned to
demolish the building and replace it with a new one, but the plan
was strongly opposed by the public.

The administration bought back the building from the company
for Rp 28 billion in 2002. Unfortunately, some antiques, which
had previously been part of the land-swap deal, were lost under
the ownership of the private developer.

According to Suryadi, the city administration has allocated Rp
6.1 billion (US$709,302) from its 2004 budget to renovate the
heritage building, which has been seriously damaged.

The administration had earlier allocated Rp 6.75 billion for
the renovation last year but the agency failed to implement the
designated project. It only spent Rp 300 million on organizing a
contest for the redesign of the building.

Suryadi said the renovation process was still in the early
stage. He explained that the existing site was being measured and
structural and archeological tests were underway.

The structural test would determine the strength of the
building's structure, while the archeological test would uncover
which building materials were used at the time of construction.

"The results of the tests will be important information for
the renovation of the old building," Suryadi said.