More to be made homeless

More to be made homeless

JAKARTA (JP): After demolishing about 300 makeshift houses in
Marunda and evicting the residents, the North Jakarta Mayoralty
announced on Friday that it planned to demolish more than 500
makeshift houses along the flood canal in Penjaringan area.

"The demolition will be conducted soon after we inform the
residents," North Jakarta Mayor Soebagio told reporters after
meeting Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso at City Hall.

He admitted that the mayoralty had failed to prevent the canal
banks from being occupied by the people.

"We should have prevented them from the beginning, so that
there would not be hundreds of makeshift houses like there are
now," he said.

In a related development, he claimed that Sutiyoso had
approved the mayoralty's action to evict 1,500 illegal residents
from vacant land in Marunda on Wednesday.

"They are illegal squatters. There is no problem about that,"
Soebagio said.

The mayoralty public order officers reportedly bulldozed the
300 houses and burned them down. Some residents accused the
mayoralty of using hoodlums during the demolition.

The land, which belonged to state-owned industrial estate
developer PT Kawasan Berikat Nusantara, was offered to the
residents three years ago for cultivation due to the economic
crisis.

The developer has asked the residents to leave the land since
last year, but they refused. (jun)