Papanggo people seek higher compensation

Papanggo people seek higher compensation

JAKARTA (JP): Riverbank residents in the Papanggo subdistrict
in North Jakarta filed a complaint with the city council
yesterday over the small amount of compensation the mayoralty
offered them for their houses which are scheduled to be
demolished.

Eight residents, claiming to represent 15 others, complained
that the mayoralty is only willing to pay a compensation rate of
Rp 100,000 (US$43.47) per square meter to every family living in
the subdistrict.

The spokesman for the residents, Munajib, told the council's
commission A, for government affairs, that the sum is too small.

"We cannot accept the compensation because we paid more than
that for the house," Munajib said, adding that the residents are
demanding a compensation set at Rp 200,000 per square meter.

He said most of the residents paid Rp 750,000 for a plot in
the area in 1984. Most plots are about 45 square meters.

Nur, a housewife, said the mayoralty had already demolished
seven meters of her house and it plans to complete the job this
week.

"It's not fair as we can't go anywhere with the sum of the
compensation set by the mayoralty," she said.

The residents live along the Tiram river. The mayoralty plans
to pull down the houses claiming they were built illegally.

"We don't know if our houses were constructed illegally
because we secured permits from the head of the Papanggo
subdistrict to build in the area," Munajib said.

Chairman of the commission M. Amman said that the residents
have made two mistakes: building the houses without a building
development permit and building them in a forbidden area.

However, he said he would contact the North Jakarta mayoralty
to clarify the matter and settle the problem.

"At least I will ask them not to demolish the houses without
giving the residents a chance to save their belongings," he said.

The commission also received a complaint from buyers of houses
at Taman Surya, a luxurious housing complex in Cengkareng, West
Jakarta, over the developer's failure to issue certificates for
their houses.

Certificates

The spokesman for the consumers, Yongki C. Andyka, told
members of the commission that they are afraid that the
developer, PT Satwika Permai Indah, a subsidiary of the Putra
Surya Perkasa (PSP) group, will not issue the certificates.

"There's one buyer who bought the house with cash in 1994 and
he has still not yet received his certificate. We are tired of
the developer's unkept promises," Yongki said.

He added the price of the houses range from Rp 160 million to
Rp 200 million.

Yongki said the residents have decided to seek justice through
the legal process but he urged the commission to give them a
helping hand by making sure that in future developers will be
unable to act in such a way.

Meanwhile, Robert Puang Sunur, a senior executive of the PSP
group, said yesterday that owners of only seven houses in Taman
Surya II have not yet received the certificates.

"Out of the owners of the 350 houses in the complex, only
seven have yet to receive certificate. They were delayed by the
National Land Agency," Robert told The Jakarta Post, yesterday.

He said that the agency does not have enough personnel to
process all of the certificates at once because there are so many
real estates in Jakarta.

However, Robert promised that all of the certificates will be
completed as soon as possible. "We will issue certificates for
the owners of the seven houses this week." (yns)