Residents blockade JORR project

Wahyuana, The Jakarta Post, Bekasi

The never-ending Jakarta Outer Ring Road (JORR) project has been delayed further after residents of four Bekasi subdistricts blocked the construction of Hankam Raya-Cikunir toll road.

Protests in the area have continued for the past two weeks, with the residents destroying some of the construction materials, burning tires and building several shacks in the middle of the road.

Jatiwarna, Jatimulya, Jatiasih and Jatimekar residents argue the central government had yet to give them compensation for their land affected in the project.

To find a solution, Bekasi deputy mayor Mochtar Mohammad met with 42 residents on Tuesday. The meeting, which was also attended by a team from the Ministry of Public Works and Bekasi Planning Agency head Ichsan Said, ended in a deadlock.

Mochtar Napitupulu of the public works ministry said that the land price demanded by the residents was too high.

"We have budgeted Rp 1.1 (US$122) million per square meter of lands where the toll road will be built, and less for plots of land located in the nearby vicinity," he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Residents insisted on prices of between Rp 1.2 million and Rp 1.35 million a square meter for a total of 12 hectares of land that will be affected by the project as stated in a decree signed by Bekasi Mayor Akhmad Zurfaih on May 21 last year.

Rizal, a resident, said they had agreed with the public works ministry's arrangement to set the land price in accordance with the land zoning.

"We will keep up the protest until the government agrees to set the maximum price at Rp 1.35 million (per sqm)," he told the Post.

The JORR project, which was started in early 1990s, is part of an effort to overcome chronic traffic congestion in the capital by connecting outer Jakarta's satellite cities in a circle.