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)