Phone kiosks enter low-cost apartments

Phone kiosks enter low-cost apartments

JAKARTA (JP): Nine telecommunications kiosks, which allow
international calls, were officially set up at some low-cost
apartments yesterday.

State Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tandjung said low-cost
apartments should have many facilities to support development and
to make people willing to live in them.

Akbar said after signing a memorandum of understanding on the
kiosks' installation in Bendungan Hilir apartments in Central
Jakarta, that communications means were very important.

Akbar said that telecommunications kiosks were among the most
important facilities in low-cost apartments. "The kiosks are not
only to support residents' businesses, but also their social
activities," he said.

He said that his office emphasized the importance of providing
more facilities, including telecommunications kiosks, in low-cost
apartments.

"Developers, especially those focusing on the development of
low-cost apartments, should start considering equipping their
projects with similar kiosks as soon as they start building,"
Akbar said.

General manager of the Greater Jakarta office of state-owned
telephone company PT Telkom, Guntur Siregar, said that only 30
residents at Benhil apartments, which can accommodate 614
families, have telephone facilities.

The three-block, 10-story apartment buildings were equipped
with only one card-operated public telephone and five coin-
operated public telephone booths.

At the ceremony yesterday, Akbar also simultaneously launched
similar kiosks at nine other low-cost apartments: Cengkareng,
Bendungan Hilir II, Karet Tengsin, Tanah Tinggi, Tebet, Bidara
Cina, Bukit Cikasungka and Rawa Lubu III apartments, as well as
the Ministry of Religious Affairs' low-cost apartments for its
officials in Pabuaran, Bogor.

Other kiosks will also be set up soon in seven low-cost
apartments: Parung Panjang, Tambora III, Dakota, Penjaringan II,
Griya Pratama Mas, Tama Adiyasa and Bulak Wadon apartments.

The private sector is expected to take an active role in
building cheap homes or low-cost apartments.

So far, the city's housing agency manages to build only 3,000
of its annual target of 10,500 homes, while the state-owned
housing company, PT Perumnas, builds an average 2,000 apartments
per annum. Their achievement remains far behind demands from the
public. (ste)