Residents blockade JORR project

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.