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)