Property obligation asked to be removed

JAKARTA (JP): City councilors called on Tuesday for the removal of an article in the draft bylaw that allows building developers to pay money in lieu of an obligation to provide 20 percent of their land for low-cost housing.

Golkar councilors Fatommy Asaari and Ali Wongso Sinaga, and Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) councilor Lukman Mokoginta said separately that the compensation proposal was against the city administration's policy to provide low-cost housing for poor Jakartans.

"The amount of the compensation is insufficient to construct low-cost houses as the cost of the land is always higher than the money the developers pay to compensate for the obligation," Fatommy said.

He suggested that the article in the draft bylaw, presented by a city council team last month, be scrapped.

Ali supported Fatommy's statement, saying that building developers should be "forced" to provide land for low-cost houses.

But Lukman said the building developers could still escape the obligation if their land was less than 5,000 square meters.

The city housing agency has predicted that the city will need 250,000 units of low-cost houses in 2007. (ind)