Study on river-based housing concept to consider all aspects
In approximately three months, I will explain which plans we will implement and which proposals we will discontinue.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Minister of Housing and Residential Areas (PKSB), Maruarar Sirait, has revealed that plans for a study regarding the concept of housing above rivers will consider all aspects, including environmental impact.
“Certainly, all aspects, all regulations, all aspects,” said Maruarar, affectionately known as Ara, in Jakarta on Wednesday.
He is currently reviewing several pattern schemes as he has been tasked with creating breakthroughs within the housing sector.
“There are proposals that I am collecting. How Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) will work, the possibility of housing above markets, and how to ensure we do not violate regulations or harm the environment, as well as the matter of housing above rivers; the study for all of these will take three months,” he said.
Furthermore, Ara stated that the planned study will also cover densely populated areas.
“In about three months, I will explain which ones we will proceed with and which proposals we will halt. These are ideas that I am collecting from various parties. We have TOD, housing above markets, and housing in dense areas; as a Minister, I must listen to these various ideas,” he added.
Ara aims for the study to be completed by December this year at the latest.
“We will present the study in three months. At the latest, by early December, because the study must be comprehensive. First, from a regulatory standpoint; second, the technical concept; third, the financing; fourth, the housing structure; and fifth, the environmental impact,” he said.
Previously, Minister Maruarar Sirait introduced the discourse regarding the plan to study the concept of housing above rivers.
According to him, the primary focus of the study will be on regulation and legality.
Law No. 17 of 2019 concerning Water Resources states that a River Basin is a land area that forms a single unit with a river and its tributaries, functioning to collect, store, and flow water from rainfall to lakes or the sea naturally, where the land boundary serves as a topographic separator and the sea boundary extends to waters still influenced by land activities.
Furthermore, Article 17, paragraph 1 of Government Regulation No. 38 of 2011 stipulates that if a study regarding the determination of river buffer zones shows the presence of buildings within the buffer zone, those buildings shall be declared in ‘status quo’ and must be phased out to restore the function of the river buffer.
Aspects related to regulation and legality are likely to be the priority of the study. Other elements to be assessed include construction methods, pricing, and all other relevant factors regarding the housing.
Nevertheless, Ara emphasised that the outcome depends on public approval and that he will not impose any decisions. He noted that the increasing and limited availability of land prices is a key factor driving the discourse on the river-based housing concept.