Squatters given collection deadline

Squatters given collection deadline

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned housing company Perum Perumnas
has given squatters in Kapuk, West Jakarta, three days to collect
their compensation.

"They must take their compensation in three days. We will not
pay compensation after the deadline," said Didin Sutiadi, head of
the Perum Perumnas branch of Cengkareng yesterday.

A gubernatorial decree is allowing Perum Perumnas to
appropriate 334 hectares of land in Kapuk and Cengkareng Timur to
construct a low-cost housing complex.

Perum Perumnas is offering residents compensation between Rp
20,000 and Rp 60,000 per square meter of building. It does not
provide actual land compensation since, they say, the land
belongs to the firm.

While 94 of the 995 families in Kapuk had rejected the paltry
compensation offered, 30 of them accepted it yesterday after the
West Jakarta authorities demolished their houses.

"It is better than nothing," a resident told The Jakarta Post.

West Jakarta mayoralty officials, police and military officers
demolished the squatter houses in Kapuk two weeks ago. Around
three hundred residents, including women and children, resisted
the demolition by erecting makeshift barricades and throwing
stones at the officers.

Despite their resistance, the officers managed to pull down 30
houses. More than 60 houses still stand on the site.

Didin disclosed that the 30 families accepted individual
compensations ranging between Rp 975,000 and Rp 9 million. He
declined to say how much was paid out to the 30 families, saying
only that Perum Perumnas has allocated Rp 162 million in
compensation funds for the 94 reluctant families.

Perum Perumnas had allocated Rp 2.44 billion for compensation
to be paid to the owners of 1,200 houses occupied by 995 families
in Kapuk.

Most of them have accepted compensation and already moved from
the land. (29)