Only 700,000 buildings in city have permits

Only 700,000 buildings in city have permits

JAKARTA (JP): Out of the city's known 1.2 million buildings,
only 700,000 have permits, a city official said yesterday.

The head of the City Development Supervision Agency, Hartanto,
said his office issues around 12,500 building permits every year.

The agency's records were based on the number of applications
for building permits.

Its data shows that owners of 500,000 buildings had applied
for permits, but were rejected. The agency could not trace how
many buildings were without permits, because many owners had not
applied.

After a council session Hartanto said yesterday, "We couldn't
issue permits for 500,000 of the buildings because the sites were
against the land use stipulated in the 1985/2005 urban spatial
plan."

The council yesterday passed new bills on the organizational
structure of both the City Spatial Agency and the City Parks
Agency.

Councilor M. Rodja said the issuance of 12,500 building
permits a year reflected people's awareness.

However the tendency to use buildings not in line with their
designated use, for instance, the use of homes as shops, should
be carefully monitored to prevent violations of the urban spatial
plan, he said.

Deputy Governor of Economic and Development Affairs Tb. M.
Rais said city services in issuing permits were sometimes delayed
because requirements were not fulfilled.

Requirements are detailed plans, site plans and land
documents.

He said it was difficult to control whether each building
permit issued was in line with rules.

"Officials who are found having issued permits without fully
meeting requirements will be punished," Rais said.

When asked about the illegal use of green areas, Rais said the
city was trying to return the areas to its original function.

Currently 213 locations, or 1,044,444 square meters of green
area, are used by vendors, gas stations, restaurants, local
administration offices, and other buildings.

"There are some places which have been returned to green areas
after being used as gas stations," Rais said.

However to support the city's Blue Sky antipollution drive,
the city allowed several gas stations in green areas to remain as
long as they started providing unleaded fuel.

He said out of the 21 gas stations in green areas, 10 had
switched to unleaded fuel, and the rest were to follow.

"We expect the city to be free from leaded gasoline by the
year 2001," Rais said.

The head of the City Parks Agency, Syamsir Alam, said his
agency could not estimate when the city would be able to return
all green areas to their designated function.

"Most changes happen because of people's interest," Syamsir
said.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said earlier that 30 percent of the
capital's 65,000 hectares should be planted with trees. However,
he later admitted that the city could only afford to spare 15
percent of its area for trees. (ste)