Spatial plan amendment debated

JAKARTA (JP): Sociologist Sardjono Jatiman said changes to the urban spatial plan was acceptable as long as there was legal certainty to protect people.

"People living in a big city like Jakarta are aware that they should adapt to any possible changes in the spatial plan. But the changes should be based on legal certainty," Sardjono said Saturday in response to statements by the deputy governor for economic and development affairs, Tb. M. Rais.

Rais said last week that changes in land use should not be taboo because they were needed to attract investment to raise development funds.

The executive director of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation, Zumrotin K. Soesilo, said over the weekend that the city must be consistent in implementing its spatial plan and not bow to parties with political or economic clout and change spatial plans.

"This could cause people to feel insecure," she said.

Sardjono said that if the city revised the 1985 to 2005 spatial plan and made it the 1985 to 2010 plan, there must be a legal guarantee that people can keep living in their homes until the end of the plan.

"People don't mind change, they just want assurance," said Sardjono, who is a teacher at the University of Indonesia's school of social and political science.

Sardjono said the spatial plan was a legal basis for the city's development and should therefore provide all people with legal certainty.

"As a legal basis, the spatial plan should not change anytime only to satisfy certain groups of people," Sardjono said.

He cited commercial sites in Kemang, South Jakarta. According to the 1985 to 2005 spatial plan, Kemang should be a residential area.

"In some cases, government officials should be held responsible for changes in land use, especially if the changes come on the requests of economically powerful people," he said.

Sardjono said the city's policy on the ratio between ordinary residential areas and luxury apartment apartments for middle and upper class people needed to be addressed.

"But, the composition should be made fairly for the sake of public interest, not only for the benefit of certain groups," Sardjono said.

He said it would be hard to determine the right ratio because improper decisions on the ratio could create exclusivism.

Considering social factors, revising spatial plans would be wise, he said. "It is about time".

The draft of the revised spatial plans was presented to Governor Surjadi Soedirdja earlier this month.

The spatial plan has to be approved by the governor, the Minister of Home Affairs and the City Council. (ste)