Minister defends lifting ban on land-use permits

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of Agrarian Affairs Soni Harsono said developers who held land-appropriation permits before the now lifted land-use permit ban was announced last October would have their land-use permits applications prioritized.

The Minister, also Chairman of the National Land Agency, said Thursday developers requesting new land-appropriation licenses, called ijin prinsip, would "be considered" but would not be given priority.

He was questioned on his decision to dump the ban at a gathering of members of the Association of Industrial Estate Companies at the Jakarta Convention Center.

On Oct. 3 last year the agency instructed its authorities in Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi not to issue any more land-use permits for housing projects until an evaluation of the use of existing permits was conducted.

The ban was called to curb the neglect of appropriated land by housing developers. The ban was lifted on Feb. 18.

"(The February policy) is aimed at boosting low cost housing development," Soni said.

The instruction to lift the ban given to local agency officials and regional authorities of Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi, only said the evaluation showed developers' progress ranging from those with land-use permits but had no land to those who had completed their projects on schedule.

Soni maintained the new policy was to boost low cost housing but developers had to meet prerequisites.

"Low cost houses are urgently needed, thus they are our first priority. The second priority will go to developers that already held land-appropriation licenses before the government stopped the issuance of land-use permits," he said.

Soni said developers with ijin prinsip would only be given land-use permits if they met a number of requirements.

"We don't intend to give new licenses to just anyone," he said.

Inconsistent

Observers said earlier the policies were inconsistent because the October letter said the land-use permits issued so far were enough to meet housing needs until 2018.

Property consultant Panangian Simanungkalit and land researcher Endang Sukendar said reopening requests for land use permits would open the door to land speculation again.

They said low cost housing would be even more difficult to build because it depended on the availability of cheap land.

The loss of levies and power previously gained from issuing land-use permits would be one factor behind the retraction of the ban, Endang said.

He said the requests for land and building involved 15 steps including asking for permits, site visits by officials, inventory of property, and registration before final requests for building permits.

Soni said when his office called for the halt on issuing land- use permits, several developers already had had principle licenses issued by local governments.

"We will choose which companies can continue their activities," he said.

The withdrawal of the ban instructions say the government will consider issuing new land-use permits to foreign investment developers and those building low-cost housing in areas of less than 50 hectares.

"We want also foreign investors to also build low-cost housing," Soni said.

Two hundred hectares is the maximum area allowed developers requesting new land-use permits.

Soni said only bonafide, experienced and serious developers with sufficient financial resources would be allowed to continue their activities.

He denied the ban's withdrawal was a sign of inconsistency. He said without the ban, the agency would have been required to continue issuing land-use permits 12 days after a developer had a principle license.

"By stopping this altogether, we had a chance to inventory what we needed and what must be developed," he said. (pwn)