Slum building owners get special treatment

JAKARTA (JP): City administration will give a 50 percent discount for sub-standard buildings in slum areas.

Head of the city development and supervision office Suharto said that the discount will help the owners obtain official building recognition letters from the city administration.

Suharto said that the recognition letters are not the same as building permits. Requirements for building permits are difficult to meet for owners of sub-standard buildings, which were built mainly under the MH Thamrin kampong improvement project, he said.

"To get building permits, for example, the owners are required to submit land certificates, designs of the houses and land location documents," Suharto told the Antara news agency.

According to Suharto 2,248 out of 17,437 buildings being constructed in the city are not equipped with building permits. "These illegal buildings, mostly houses, are included in the sub- standard category," he said.

Deputy Governor for Economic Affairs Tb. M. Rais confirmed that the plan to give discounts will be implemented soon.

Rais said that the plan is also intended to help the city register the number of the sub-standard buildings.

Suharto stressed that through the discounts Jakartans are expected to be more aware about the importance of obtaining a permit before starting the construction of a building.

He said that his office has a total of 400 field officers in charge of supervising building constructions in the city. Their jobs include compiling reports on the number of construction projects as well as their violations. (yns)