Manggarai residents urged to remain calm
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja has urged residents of Manggarai, South Jakarta, whose land may be appropriated to make way for the construction of a huge integrated transport terminal, to remain calm.
The governor told the residents yesterday that the project, the cost of which has been estimated to be about US$285 million, would not cause them to suffer.
"I assure you that the consortium in charge of handling the project's construction will set the compensation in line with the existing regulations," Surjadi said at City Hall yesterday.
Under the existing regulations compensation for land appropriated for government-sponsored projects is calculated on the basis of a number of factors, including the taxable value of the land and current market prices.
In a another current land appropriation dispute in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, residents have so far refused to accept the compensation offered to them by the Kemayoran development board, which wants to use the land for a business district development. The board has offered the residents compensation ranging between Rp 300,000 and Rp 700,000 per square meter of land. The residents claim they need to be paid Rp 2 million per square meter in order to buy new homes.
The governor made the remarks in response to demands by the residents for transparency in the provision of compensation for their land.
The residents asked both the private consortium developing the terminal and the government to inform them about the compensation and which areas would be cleared for the project so as to avoid confusion. They claimed that they had not been provided with a single piece of information about the project, which is to jointly managed by a the developer and the state railway company Perumka.
The consortium which is to carry out the project consists of seven companies: PT Bandar Mardi Perkasa, PT Cahaya Cipta Adicemerlang, PT Citra Agratama Persada, PT Mitraguna Tribhakti, PT Pembangunan Jaya, PT Sekar Artha Sentosa and PT Suhamthabie Utama.
The project, which is expected to be completed by the year 2006, will cover a total area of 126 hectares, of which 72 hectares are owned by Perumka and the remaining 52 hectares are currently owned by local residents.
The terminal will consist of a railway station with 22 railway lines at street level; four underground express railway lines; an inter-city bus terminal able to accommodate 3,600 buses per day; a city bus terminal with a capacity of 5,760 buses per day; a taxi terminal; and several hotels.
The terminal is intended to be capable of accommodating 6.5 million passengers per day. Besides terminals and hotels, the project will also be equipped with business centers and new residential sites.
The governor said that land compensation would be determined by a process consisting of a number of steps.
"The first step is to list the plots of land in the area, followed by the registration of their owners, and so on," he said.
Surjadi said that the project was currently still being planned by executives of the consortium in cooperation with the city administration, having been presented to President Soeharto on Monday.
"The consortium is still breaking down the details of the project design," Surjadi said.
He added that a public presentation on the project, to explain areas to be affected by the project, would be held as soon as the details of the design had been worked out.
"Don't worry, there will be a public presentation about this matter," Surjadi said. (yns)