REI to expel housing developers cheating buyers
BEKASI (JP): The Association of Indonesian Realtors (REI) will oust and publicly announce any developers and their management staff who have been proved to have cheated consumers, the Association's chairman Enggartiasto Lukito said yesterday.
"If any one of them is found guilty of cheating consumers, REI will oust the company from the organization and announce publicly the names of its board of directors," Enggartiasto said after attending the ground breaking ceremony of the housing complex for civil servants in Cikarageman, Bekasi.
Yesterday's ceremony was officially opened by State Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tandjung, who earlier this week had been ordered by President Soeharto to take firmer measures against cheating developers.
Around 600 low and medium-cost houses will be built on the site, most of which will be sold on credit to workers of the Manpower Ministry. It is part of an expansion of the 800 houses already built in the complex.
Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief, who had been scheduled to attend the ceremony, failed to turn up due to health problems.
Akbar said that in the ongoing Five-Year Development Plan, the government has planned to build up to around 600,000 houses designed for civil servants throughout the country.
He reminded the public to first check the integrity of a developer and all permits required before buying a house and signing an agreement with a realtor.
Developers should comply with all existing regulations, including land acquisition, land titles and construction permits before they can start building houses, Akbar stated.
The issue of deceitful developers surfaced earlier this week after some 3,000 prospective buyers of low and medium-cost houses complained to the provincial government of West Java that they had been cheated by a developer, PT Kalasutra.
The case, known as "The case of fictitious houses", has drawn public attention nationwide.
To prevent similar cases from happening, the government has set up an investigative team overseen by the Ministry of Public Works, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the National Development Planning Board, the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs, and local authorities.
It was reported earlier that the police had arrested the director of Kalasutra for allegedly cheating the consumers by not constructing the planned housing complex in Cileungsi, Bogor, after collecting some Rp 1.2 billion (US$530,035) from the consumers.
According to Enggartiasto, the police should conduct a thorough investigation of the developer and find out its underlying motives.
He said six members of REI from Tangerang, Bekasi and Sulawesi had been blacklisted as they were suspected of irregularities. "One of them has even been inactivated by REI," he added.
Asked about the Kalasutra director, Enggartiasto said REI's professional staff and lawyer were investigating the case.
REI, founded in 1972, has often advised failing companies to settle cases and return any money collected from consumers.
In the selection of memberships, REI has recently set up a team to study a company's credibility and expertise so as not to disappoint consumers, he added.(03)