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.