Slum building owners get special treatment

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)