South Jakarta to have pedestrian mall

South Jakarta to have pedestrian mall

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration has given a green light
to the construction of a two-kilometer pedestrian mall connecting
Jl. Jend. Sudirman and Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said as part of its
efforts to boost tourism in the capital.

"The governor responded positively to the suggestion, which
came from the Minister of Tourism, Joop Ave," prominent developer
Ciputra told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The mall will be on Jl. Prof. Dr. Satrio.

Ciputra said that there would be about 100 buildings along the
street, most of them shops and restaurants.

"There might be office buildings as well. But if there are
any, they will have to function as banking halls which are open
to the public," he said.

The government envisages a street comparable to Orchard Road
in Singapore, Ginza in Japan and the Champs-Elysee in Paris.

In Singapore, for example, motorists are not allowed to park
their cars in the eight-meter wide Orchard Road, which has become
a popular shopping destination for tourists.

Ciputra said that the city government was still drafting the
necessary regulations for the construction of the new project,
which will be carried out by Ciputra Group.

Under the ambitious plan, both the owners of the buildings and
the tenants would be responsible for the cleanliness of the
street adjoining their properties.

Ciputra is sure the scheme will work, given the importance of
a clean and attractive environment for business.

"If the road is dirty, people will not go shopping there," he
said.

In speaking to the Post, Ciputra expressed great confidence in
the project's feasibility.

"How long is Jl. Sudirman? How many buildings are there? It
was not difficult to develop it, was it? This one (Jl. Prof. Dr.
Satrio) is only two kilometers," he said.

Ciputra said acquiring the land was "the most difficult
problem faced by developers."

"Land acquisition does not only involve material things. It
has a lot to do with culture, emotion and history..."

The only way to deal with the problem is to conduct
negotiations which arrive at a win-win position, Ciputra said.

Ciputra, a graduate of the Bandung Technology Institute, is
one of Indonesia's most successful developers. He established PT
Pembangunan Jaya, together with the city administration, in 1961.
His Metropolitan Group was founded in 1970 and ten years later he
set up the Ciputra Group. Among his 'mega-projects' were the
Pondok Indah housing estate, Ancol's Fantasy Land, the Bintaro
Jaya housing estate, the Bumi Serpong Damai housing estate, the
Pantai Mutiara marine housing estate, the Atrium shopping center,
the Pantai Indah Kapuk housing, the Citra Garden housing estate,
the CitraLand Mall and hotel and the CitraGrand City. He also has
two projects outside the city: the CitraLand Semarang and the
CitraLand Surabaya.

In 1993 environmentalist groups strongly criticized Ciputra's
Pantai Indah Kapuk project on the coast in the north of Jakarta.
They claimed this development had caused serious damage to
mangrove swamps, resulting in floods on the toll road to the
airport and degrading the ecosystem. The project has, however,
continued. (sim)