'Stop commercial development in Senayan'
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Former city governor Ali Sadikin demanded on Tuesday that the Bung Karno Sports Complex authorities stop construction of commercial facilities on land originally allocated for sports facilities.
"The city administration should oppose the continuing development of commercial facilities in the area as we still need the space to expand the development of sport facilities," Ali told the media after meeting with Governor Sutiyoso on Tuesday.
He also urged Sutiyoso to investigate the permits for various commercial facilities on the land, believed to have been issued due to corruption, collusion and nepotism.
Ali referred to more than 10 buildings occupying 66.74 hectares (ha) of land located in Senayan, Central Jakarta, now managed by the Bung Karno Sports Complex Management Board, and under the control of the State Secretariat. The board controls in total some 279.10 ha of land, which was originally allocated purely for sports facilities.
Ali said if the permits had been issued by the state secretary, the city administration should take the matter to court to have them annulled, because the only institution with the authority to issue such permits in the city was the city administration.
Sutiyoso has repeatedly demanded that the central government transfer the management of Senayan, as well as some other properties like the city's toll roads and the now-defunct airport in Kemayoran, to the city administration. As his demands were ignored, Sutiyoso recently threatened to sue the central government, saying that his demand was based on the autonomy law and Law No. 34/1999 on Jakarta as a special province.
Even though Bung Karno Sports Complex was originally allocated for sports facilities, current data shows that only 146.57 ha (53.52 percent of the total) is used for sports facilities, another 66.74 ha (23.91 percent) being allocated to the private sector, with the remaining 65.79 ha for government buildings.
Commercial facilities that occupy the land include Hilton International Hotel, Ratu Plaza, Menara Gelora Senayan, Hotel Mulia, Plaza Senayan, Panin Bank, Taman Ria, Jakarta Convention Center and Senayan Trade Center.
Several other commercial buildings due to be constructed in the area include hotels, condominiums and another shopping center.
The land was cleared in late 1958 when residents were told to move to other areas as Indonesia would host the fourth Asian Games there in 1962.
From the total 66.74 ha of land, the concession on which is held by the private sector, the sports complex management could earn only about Rp 16 billion from the cooperation agreement, drawn up on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.
The revenue is very low in comparison with the open market value of the land, estimated at around Rp 10 million per square meter.