More campaigns needed on apartments: Surjadi

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said that city administration officers should intensify public presentation on apartments and their benefits.

"The public presentation is needed to make people understand the necessity of apartments and then they will cooperate and be willing to live in apartments," Surjadi Soedirdja said during his weekly visit to several areas in Central Jakarta yesterday.

He explained that sooner or later a great number of Jakartans should live in apartments due to the ever increasing shortage of land in the capital.

"By building apartments we could also build public facilities, such as parks and sport fields," the governor said.

Commenting on the incident in Bendungan Hilir in which a low- cost apartment will be built, the governor stressed that the land belongs to the government and that people have claimed and rented it to other people.

"They refused to give it back so that the government could use the land," Soedirdja said.

A physical clash between the city administration officers and the residents of Bendungan Hilir fire site occurred early this week when the residents opposed the development of low-cost apartments building in the area.

The incident began when residents resisted efforts by the city officers to demolish their temporary houses.

The governor has denied allegations that his officers cut Rp 400,000 (US$190) given by the city administration as allowance to help the residents rent temporary housing pending the completion of the apartments.

The governor also ordered Central Jakarta Mayor Abdul Kahfi to carefully record people who have first priority to get the apartments to avoid the possibility of the wrong people getting there first. (yns)