Minister defends lifting ban on land-use permits

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)