Number of slums up 400 percent in last five years

JAKARTA (JP): Slum areas in the city have soared in number in the wake of the debilitating crisis, a population official has confirmed.

Head of the population section of the Jakarta Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS Jakarta) Rusmandesiar said Wednesday 45 community units were now classified as slums, up from just nine five years ago.

He said the sharp increase was caused mainly by the impact of the chronic economic turmoil.

The number is predicted to continue expanding because of the rising ranks of the poor, he added.

People hit by poverty would no longer be able to set aside part of their money to upgrade their residential environment.

"The limited allocation for development projects from the city budget further worsens this poor condition." He noted the administration had decided to focus use of the budget on routine expenditures.

The city budget for the 1998/1999 fiscal year has undergone two revisions from its initial Rp 3.2 trillion, trimmed down to Rp 2.7 trillion and then Rp 1.3 trillion.

Rusmandesiar said classification of a community unit as a slum area was based on 10 physical variables. These include population density of more than 600 people per hectare, irregular building layout, nonpermanent buildings of 80 percent or more, open space equivalent to less than 10 percent, bad drainage, more than 80 percent of people without private toilets and an equivalent percentage lacking clean water access.

Slum areas are located in Setiabudi and Tebet districts in South Jakarta; Kramat Jati, Jatinegara, Duren Sawit and Pulo Gadung districts in East Jakarta; Sawah Besar and Gambir districts in Central Jakarta.

In West Jakarta, the areas are scattered in Kebon Jeruk, Cengkareng, Kalideres and Tambora districts, and in North Jakarta there are pockets in Pademangan, Tanjung Priok, Papanggo, Koja and Cilincing districts.

Governor Sutiyoso said yesterday he still had no clear-cut plan on coping with the increase of slum areas in the city, saying he was awaiting definitive reports on the matter.

Sutiyoso said the city administration had yet to formulate steps to cope with the problem.

"All of us know that such an expansion is caused mainly by the prolonged economic crisis... I also realize that the administration should indeed take action on the matter, but up to now I haven't received any reports from my staff.

"I should also ask them first on how to take concrete action," he added. (ind)