Pejompongan fire victims start to rebuild houses

Pejompongan fire victims start to rebuild houses

JAKARTA (JP): Victims of the fire that razed hundreds of
houses in Pejompongan, Central Jakarta, have started to rebuild
temporary huts at the site despite the municipal administration's
prohibition.

"I have put up a hut at the site of my home as a proof that I
own the plot in case the city postpones or even cancels its plans
to build low cost apartments in this area," Surip Sarman, a fire
victim who owns a plot of land at the site, said yesterday.

Surip told The Jakarta Post that he felt uncomfortable living
in the temporary shelters provided by the subdistrict
administration.

Surip said that he will leave the site any time the city needs
it to start the construction of the promised apartments.

Central Jakarta Mayor Abdul Kahfi has called on the fire
victims not to rebuild their homes because the city plans to
build a low-cost apartment complex there.

The mayor announced the plan after around 300 families were
rendered homeless when the fire gutted the slum area on the
evening of Sept. 9.

The three-hectare area is home to 2,000 low-income people.

Haris Harahap, the Tanah Abang district chief, whose area of
authority covers Pejompongan subdistrict, said that the district
administration has recorded 12 families as having started to
rebuild their houses.

"I don't think that they understand what the city will try to
do for them," he said, adding that the administration will issue
a harsh warning to stop them from building.

According to Haris, the city plans to build a four-story
apartment building at the site and that the fire victims will
have priority to occupying those apartments.

He added that the city will start the process at the end of
this month if nothing goes wrong.

He said that the fire victims will only have to pay 50 percent
of the apartment price, except for those who have land ownership
certificates. Those people will get a discount on the purchase of
the apartments amounting to an equivalent of the value of the
property they owned.

"Unfortunately, not all of the residents have agreed to
participate in making the city's plan a success," he said.

Some of the residents have reportedly tried to intimidate
other residents into not taking the funds provided by the city to
help them rent a house for a year.

Opposed

Haris explained that the district administration has arranged
for each family who possessed a house at the fire site to receive
Rp 400,000 (US$183), while an unmarried person who was renting a
house at the time of the fire will receive Rp 100,000.

The different amounts of rental assistance are strongly
opposed by some victims, especially the unmarried tenants.

Heri Marsidin, another fire victim, who has three children and
used to have a house there, said that he will not take the rental
funds because he is afraid that the other residents will attack
him.

"I will take the money after the dispute between the district
chief and the tenants is settled," he said.

Responding to a question about the intimidation, district
chief Haris acknowledged that hundreds of people are too
frightened to take the rental assistance.

"Until now there are only 10 house owners who have been brave
enough to take the money, while the city has allocated more than
Rp 300 million for paying the residents one year rent," Haris
said. (03)