Marunda cleared for low-cost apartments

Marunda cleared for low-cost apartments

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta administration is preparing a site in Marunda, North
Jakarta for the development of low-cost apartments next year,to
be built in cooperation with private developers.

A senior official with the City Housing Agency, Suparman, said
on Tuesday his agency had been readying a 12-hectare area in
Marunda for the apartment blocks.

"With three blocks to a hectare, the entire site can
accommodate 36 blocks," said Suparman, who chairs the planning
division of the agency.

Each block will have between 100 and 300 units.

He said the administration would focus on the development of
low-cost apartments in Marunda next year, while the agency would
prepare further sites for similar projects.

According to agency data made available to The Jakarta Post,
the administration has acquired 56.31 hectares of land across the
city, of which 48.94 hectares, or 83 percent, will be used for
the development of low-cost apartments.

Much of the acquired land is not ready for construction.

In addition to Marunda, some locations that are ready for
construction include Karet Tengsin, Central Jakarta (1.95
hectares for one block of 292 units) and Jl. Pinus Elok,
Penggilingan in East Jakarta (2.14 hectares for nine blocks of
900 units).

Governor Sutiyoso's administration has planned to expedite the
development of more than 50,000 units of low-cost apartments for
the poor by 2010 by dragging developers, which are yet to fulfill
their obligations to build social facilities for the public, into
the project financing. The administration will assist through
providing the land.

According to prevailing regulations, every developer -- which
is willing to build housing or commercial premises on a
5,000-square-meter area and above -- has to dedicate 20 percent
of the built area for public facilities or non-commercial
infrastructure. Or, the developer can settle the obligation with
cash.

Those facilities include schools, sports centers, places of
worship, markets, parks and playgrounds. Such facilities cannot
be converted into building premises for commercial purposes and
have to be handed over to the local administration within five
years.

Between 1990 and 2005, 163 developers failed to build public
facilities or non-commercial infrastructure or pay off their
obligation, equal to Rp 894.68 billion in total.

However, City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya said the administration
would focus on pursuing those developers who had obligations in
the last five years between 2001 and 2005.

"It will be much easier for us to track down new developers
than those developers whose obligations are due before 2000 as
many of them are no longer active or have moved to unknown
addresses," Ritola said.

Between 2001 and 2005, only 27 developers are yet to make good
on their obligations valued at Rp 264.87 billion, equal to 18
apartment blocks, he said.

Chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Real Estate
Developers Association (REI) Tulus Sawoso said earlier last week
that only 30 of the total 163 indebted developers were members of
the REI.

Tulus, however, said his organization would approach its
members to find out why they had not met their obligations.