RI's highest tower to be built for sports offices
JAKARTA (JP): A 54-story skyscraper at Senayan, Central Jakarta, will be built on the land where the National Sports Council headquarters now stands. When it is completed, it will become the highest building in Indonesia.
The council's treasurer Setya Novanto said after a meeting with Senayan's management board yesterday that the three-party consortium -- made up of the Senayan management board, the sports council and PT Indra Karya, a company owned by the Public Works Ministry -- will spend between US$200 and $300 million.
The consortium has picked another state-owned company, PT Waskita Karya, for the construction project, which is scheduled to begin in two months. The project will be situated on 10,000 square meters of prime land and finished in two years.
A source on Senayan's management had told The Jakarta Post in February that a private company was planning on carrying out the lucrative project.
The building, called Indonesia Sports Tower, is being dubbed the highest tower in the country.
The 46-story BNI City, located on Jl. Jendral Sudirman in Central Jakarta, is currently the highest building in the city, standing 288.85 meters.
The consortium, the builder and PT Unitri, which is consulting the management, soon will have a final meeting to discuss the construction plan and the budget.
The council and the management board of the Senayan sports complex met yesterday to resume discussions about the construction project after a two-month break.
The council and the sports organizations under its auspices will be accommodated on a square-shaped "podium" section beneath the cylindrical 54-story tower, which will be leased out.
"Both the Senayan management board and the contractor have presented their proposals for the tower but we asked them to reserve us a place around the new building complex," the council's vice chairman Arie Soedewo said.
Novanto said that 50 sports organizations will be provided with a 200-square-meter office in the special section. A meeting room, an auditorium, a restaurant and a sports equipment shop will also be built.
"We won't only consider the commercial point of view but we want to maintain the Ganefo characteristic in the new building," Novanto said, he said referring to the games concept envisioned by Sukarno in the 1960s which would have pitted "New Emerging Forces" countries against one other.
Moving
Within the next two months, all council staff members will have to move their activities from their headquarters to a temporary office owned by the Senayan management board, about 300 meters away.
"We're moving because we don't want to disturb the project," Novanto said.
He said that the council will not only receive compensation from the reconstruction project but also earn annual leasing royalties.
The management of the new building will be discussed by the consortium at a later date, Novanto said.
The director of Senayan's management board, Saptodarsono, refused to comment on yesterday's meeting.
The construction of the tower was suggested by Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono, who is the ex-officio chairman of the Gelora Senayan Foundation. The sports office building is another addition to the area which is becoming one of the city's business centers.
Arie denied rumors that there was a dispute involving the council and the management over the status of the lot.
"It's not true that there was a quarrel. We're concerned about how to use the land in order to give advantages to all parties. That everybody is happy is what we want," he said.
Earlier this year, chairman of the council Wismoyo Arismunandar said in a meeting with the House commission for education, culture, religion and sports that the council would ask the government to give it the rights over its office building as well as the property.
He said that the council expects to receive Rp 3 billion (US$1.3 million) every month from the private companies leasing office space in the building. (05)