Soeharto to open new apartments

Soeharto to open new apartments

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto is scheduled to inaugurate
the Cengkareng low-cost apartments especially built for workers
of factories in West Jakarta on Nov. 30.

The spokesman for the Ministry of Public Housing, Johanes
Kalle, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the Cengkareng
apartments will be a model for housing units to be constructed in
other areas to solve urban housing problems.

"Workers living in the apartments will not have to use public
transit services to go to and from their places of work. In this
way traffic congestion can be reduced," he said.

Johanes added that he expected enhanced productivity among
workers because they would be expending less time and energy
getting to work.

The five-story apartment building constructed by the state-
owned housing company, Perum Perumnas, has 768 units measuring 21
square meters each.

The Rp 30 billion housing has been built by the state-owned
Perum Perumnas and the National Development Planning Board.

The head of Perum Perumnas's Cengkareng unit, Didin Sutiadi,
said that the apartments, which have running water and
electricity, are ready for use.

He said that the company plans to construct a total of 2,304
low-cost apartments in the area by 1997.

The apartments on the second to fifth floors will be rented to
workers. "The first floor is provided for commercial, public and
social facilities," Didin said.

The rental fees for apartments vary depending on their
location. Those on the second floor are Rp 94,000 per month, on
the third floor Rp 86,000 per month, and on the fourth floor Rp
73,000. The rents on the fifth floor are the lowest at only Rp
69,000 per month, Didin said. "The tenants will not have to pay
rent for the first three months," he said.

Four hundred of the housing units have been booked by seven
companies located in the area, including PT Kedaung Group, PT
Lingga Karisma, PT Nusa Indah, Merpati Nusantara Airlines, and
Perum Angkasa Pura.

Didin said that most potential tenants are not yet familiar
with life in apartments, therefore Perum Perumnas, along with the
city administration and a private radio station, will hold an
orientation course on apartment living.

The inauguration of the Cengkareng low-cost apartments will
also mean the opening of 235,000 other apartments throughout the
country. (29)