Metropolis still a pseudo concept

Metropolis still a pseudo concept

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Over 1 million people working in Jakarta have no better choice
but to reside in the suburbs of Greater Jakarta, which in fact
fall within the jurisdictions of West Java and Banten provinces.

Besides the fact that a house with a backyard in the suburbs
is more affordable -- even though it may take 10 to 20 years to
finish paying off the installments -- it can also be a good
investment thanks to the rapid development of industrial and
commercial premises in each of the new towns.

However, according to urban planners, the mushrooming
development of satellite cities has gone off track from its
initial concept of self-contained settlements that are supposed
to take the burden off the capital.

"What at first were expected to be buffer towns to absorb
Jakarta residents have turned into dormitory settlements," urban
architect Darundono told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

He pointed to the influx of thousands of vehicles into the
capital as well as spiraling fuel consumption and emissions as an
example of the adverse impacts of the rapid growth of the new
towns.

The first concept for a Greater Jakarta came to light in mid
1980s when the central government authorized banks to support
developers who had plots of land of more than 500 hectares to
develop.

Imitating the development of new towns in some European
countries and the United States, where residential areas were
moved to the outskirts, the Jakarta administration designed the
expansion of the city to go as far as Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and
Bekasi: "Jabodetabek" for short.

Each buffer town was expected to have its own function --
whether it was designed as industrial area with housing complexes
or a residential area with a business district -- equipped with
all the public facilities of a real town, such as parks, schools
and a public transportation system.

The first one built was Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) in 1987 in
Tangerang, about a one hour drive from the city. This was
followed later by the development of Lippo Karawaci, also in
Tangerang.

The booming housing development business at that time had
unfortunately given opportunities for unscrupulous officials to
rake in fortunes by allowing any company to develop even 20
hectares of land into housing complexes without appropriate
public facilities.

Another urban planner from Tarumanegara University, Suryono
Herlambang, pointed to the existence of several other small
housing complexes in between BSD and Lippo Karawaci as an example
of deviations to the grand plan.

"The idea was to separate each of the centers of growth with
an area of at least 20 to 30 kilometers of green, productive area
to be used as, for example, agricultural farms by the residents
in a bid to create a self-sustaining town. Moreover, there should
have been a public transportation system to connect each of the
towns.

"But as we can see now, the whole area has turned into a
concrete jungle where residential areas are confronted with
shopping malls," he told the Post.

Suryono has suggested that all related administrations start a
redesign of Greater Jakarta, in order to reduce the numbers of
people traveling into and out of Jakarta.

Darundono also highlighted the fact that the uncontrolled
development of new towns along the green belt area has also made
Greater Jakarta even more prone to flooding.

"The administrations should work together to establish mass
rapid transportation system and stop the development of new
towns," he asserted.