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)