Mayor against court decision on land row

JAKARTA (JP): South Jakarta Mayor Pardjoko said that he will appeal to the Jakarta High Administrative Court against the decision of the District State Administrative Court on a land dispute in Lebak Bulus.

The district court overruled Pardjoko's ruling on a disputed 2,000 square-meter plot of land on Jl. Cireundeu in Lebak Bulus, and ordered him to pay a fine of Rp 470,000 (US$216).

"I will appeal. I will obey the decision only if a higher court orders me to," Pardjoko told reporters Wednesday during a lunch break of a limited leadership meeting held at the City Hall.

The verdict, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post, annulled Pardjoko's Aug. 25 ruling which legalized the appropriation of a 2,000 square-meter plot of land on Jl. Cireundeu by businessman R.J. Kaptin Adisumarta. He turned the plot into an entrance way to his 9,000 square meter luxurious residential complex alongside the Pesanggrahan river.

Dewi Djulaeha, the woman who claims ownership of the 2,000 square meter plot, said on Tuesday that, in the beginning, Kaptin borrowed the plot to facilitate the construction of the complex.

Last year Kaptin, Dewi said, turned the plot into an entrance way to the complex without her knowledge and had the South Jakarta Mayoralty administration legalize it when she and her family went to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Dewi demanded that the land be returned to her or that Kaptin pay her one million rupiah per square meter.

Dewi stated that four of the houses built in the complex don't have building permits. They also violate city regulations on the distance buildings can be to a river and the one to five ratio of building to land she added.

But Pardjoko said that Kaptin had complete and legal building permits for all the houses he built in the complex, including the permit for using the 2,000 square meters of land as entrance way.

However, Prawoto S. Danoemihardjo, assistant to the city administration secretary, said that the construction of the four houses violated city regulations and hence the municipal administration will demolish them.

"The riverbank is designated for the development of an environmental road and therefore it must be clear of any buildings," Prawoto said. (arf)