Residential areas with new town concept lure occupants

Residential areas with new town concept lure occupants

Sudibyo M. Wiradji, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Developers employing the "independent" or "satellite city"
concept when building urban residential estates have already
proven successful in attracting residents.

These holistic residential housing projects are located in
large areas, in which complementary facilities -- schools,
hospitals, banks, malls, offices and recreation centers -- are
built.

Such estates continue to attract residents, families with
school-age children, and those who want easy access to shops,
places of worship, fitness centers and the ability to easily take
part in other recreational activities.

Estates with adjacent trade centers or industrial estates can
even provide workplaces and jobs for their residents.

As Jakarta becomes packed with people due to rapid population
growth year on year, these independent cities are tipped as
becoming the best places to live and work.

The growth of the "independent city" concept in Jakarta was
inspired by the success of firm PT Jaya Real Property, which
first combined residential and commercial estate in Bintaro,
South Jakarta.

The concept has now been adopted in several residential
complexes located near Jakarta such as the Bumi Serpong Damai
(BSD) development in Serpong, Tangerang; in the Lippo Karawaci
project, in Tangerang; and a project in Lippo Cikarang, Bekasi.

At BSD, with its hospital, schools, banks, places of worship,
recreational centers, and commercial-industrial blocks, residents
found that accessibility also meant quality of life, head of
public service division Dhony Rahajoe said.

Without having to negotiate Jakarta's frequent and infamous
traffic jams, residents now had more time to do the things they
enjoyed, Dhony said.

BSD covers an area of 6,000 hectares. Initially developed as a
small housing estate with a school, clinic, a market, a bus
terminal and a mosque in 1989, the increase in demand from
prospective residents led the developer to build more housing
complexes.

Some 1,800 units of houses of different types built in 10
clusters are expected to be completed next year.

To create a residential community in BSD, the developers
started to market a large-scale commercial and industrial estate
concept, including the construction of super blocks for trades,
offices and industry in 1995.

"Starting early in 2003, we developed a residential housing
estate, office centers and industrial estates on the east side of
the Cisadane River. Hopefully, the projects will be completed
within two or three years," Dhony said.

The housing estates in BSD were also attractive to prospective
residents because they offered unique architectural designs
related to environmental themes that incorporated parks, he said.

"We also take advantage of natural environments like rivers,
lakes and heritage sites to make BSD an environmentally friendly
place," he said.

The development of the Lippo Karawaci residential area started
in 1995. The housing project included the construction of a
massive shopping center, an international school and high-rise
office buildings, an apartment, a five star hotel and
international class hospital.

Like BSD, the Lippo Karawaci has also become one of favorite
residential areas for the Jakarta residents. Besides, Lippo
Karawaci, Lippo Group also develops other large-scale estate
development projects in Cikarang, West Java, covering areas of
around 5,500 hectares. It started with the construction of
industrial estates like East Jakarta Industrial Park and the
International Industrial Estate.

The Kelapa Gading Permai housing estate is also one of
successful township projects in Jakarta. Besides, a good
infrastructure, its developer also built schools, a hospital, a
public park, malls and other commercial centers.

PT Summarecon Agung, the developer of Kelapa Gading Permai
housing estate, prefers to call its residential estate a
'satellite city' -- where the housing and commercial facilities
are developed in stages.

"Many residents of housing estates work at the bank, mall, or
shopping center or establish a business in shop houses here," PT
Summarecon Agung's media relations manager Cut Meutia said.

Initially, the Kelapa Gading Permai housing estate was built
on an area of around 10 hectares in 1976. Now it encompasses some
500 hectares with more housing estates and commercial facilities
such as a bank, mall and shop houses nearby.

The new housing estates the firm developed include Gading
Nirwana built in 1998, Gading Kusuma in 2000, Gading Rivera in
2001 and Gading Park View in 2003.

"Construction of housing estates aimed at the middle and
upper-classes of society will continue for the next few years,"
the firm's director and corporate secretary, Johanes Mardjuki,
said.

Johanes said security and a quality environment were highly
emphasized in the design of the development.

To ensure the security around the estate, cars and motorcycles
are only allowed to come and go through a single gate, which is
guarded around the clock.

Extra parks had been built around the new houses in Kelapa
Gading to give children more healthy places to play, he said.