Minister disturbed by sports center news
Minister disturbed by sports center news
JAKARTA (JP): Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono yesterday
said he was disturbed by new reports suggesting that the
government was going to build a new sports complex in Ciledug and
Pondok Aren districts on the outskirts of Jakarta.
Recently, a Jakarta-based private developer was reported to
have requested the Tangerang administration to help clear nearly
1,000 hectares of land in the two districts to construct GOR II,
the Indonesian abbreviation for Second Sports Arena.
The first, in Senayan, in Central Jakarta, is managed by an
agency Moerdiono chairs.
"In my capacity as head of the GOR Senayan management, I can
categorically say that there is no plan from the board or the
government to build GOR II," Moerdiono told reporters yesterday.
"I truly don't understand how someone could use the name GOR
Senayan," he said. "Of course I will take action to put this in
order."
He also appealed to the press to pass the word to residents in
the two districts to remain calm and not be affected by the
reports.
The residents of Ciledug and Pondok Aren have been worried by
recurring reports of the plan to build the sports complex in
recent years.
Earlier it was suggested that the government was looking for a
site to build a new sports complex to help Indonesia's bid to
host the Asian Games in the year 2002. Indonesia, however,
appears not to be pushing very hard to win the right to host the
sports gala. The regional sports officials, currently gathered in
Hiroshima, Japan, for the 12th Asian Games, are deciding who will
host the games right now.
Moerdiono said he plans to summon the errant owners of the
private developer because they have upset the residents.
"If the company is not bona fide, it probably doesn't know
what it was doing. But if it is bona fide, I have strong
objections," he stressed.
Moerdiono added that he plans to call on the Tangerang regent
and the district chiefs to tell them not to deal with the
developer.
The Pos Kota daily identified the developer as PT Pembina Mas
Utama, but the company is not listed in the phone directory. The
company reportedly wrote to the two district offices, saying that
it had the support of the National Sports Council.
Copies of the letters, complete with maps of the areas to be
procured, have been circulating among residents of the two
districts, which have been rapidly developed into housing
complexes in recent years.
The application, if it really exists, apparently has only
reached the district offices of Ciledug and Pondok Aren. The West
Java provincial government, which oversees Tangerang, said it is
not aware of the planned project. While it would welcome such a
project in its territory, the provincial government stressed that
it could never be at the expense of residential areas.
The two district chiefs, Ruchiyat and Tasdik, earlier
confirmed that representatives from the developer asked for their
help to procure the land on which the company planned to build
the sports complex.
"Of course we rejected them because we don't have the
authority to issue such a recommendation," Ruchiyat said. "I sent
them to the Tangerang mayoralty office." (emb)