Suryadi warns officials not to abuse housing subsidies
Suryadi warns officials not to abuse housing subsidies
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja threatened yesterday
to dismiss officials who are found guilty of abusing house rent
funds provided by the city administration to residents of
Bendungan Hilir in Central Jakarta.
"I will not hesitate to expel such officials as their
malfeasance is threatening the city's programs," Surjadi said,
urging the people to report any wrongdoing to the City Hall.
The governor made the remarks in response to complaints about
misuses of the funds, which are designed to help families whose
houses in Bendungan Hilir were ravaged by fire on Sept. 9 to rent
homes pending the completion of apartments in the area.
The city administration has agreed to pay Rp 400,000 (US$190),
more than the compensation payments of their properties, to each
of the families to rent houses.
The city administration has repeatedly warned the residents
not to rebuild their houses since the area will be used to
develop low-cost apartments for them. However this plan was
rejected by the residents.
The governor acknowledged that certain people wanted to hinder
the government's fight against poverty by instigating people to
oppose the apartment development plan.
"I am sure that such people were happy when their agitation
was able to lead to a clash between area residents and the
authorities following demolition at the fire site on Friday,"
Surjadi said, adding that prior to the incident he had instructed
his officers to continue the eviction and avoid clashing with
residents.
Hundreds of workers and members of the civil defense corps,
backed by military and police officers, were involved in a clash
with residents of Bendungan Hilir fire site in Central Jakarta
when they tried to demolish houses after negotiations over land
compensation collapsed.
The area residents reportedly refused compensation which was
set at Rp 235,000 per square meter for their homes from the city
administration and asked that the amount be increased to Rp 1
million per square meter instead.
Meanwhile, Mora Tua Simamora, the deputy of Central Jakarta
Mayor denied the allegations of malfeasance.
"I guarantee that none of my officers has cut the amount of
the funds because I myself supervised the distribution of the
funds," he told reporters yesterday.
Simamora said that his office has urged residents whose houses
were rebuilt after the fire to demolish theirs within three days.
Out of the 300 houses rebuilt after the fire incident, 270 were
destroyed by law enforcement officials.
Low-cost
The governor underlined that apartment building in the city,
including low-cost apartments, will continue because it is
important to help create a more prosperous life for its
residents.
"The city administration chooses to build apartments because
Jakarta is facing land shortages while at the same time people
from other provinces continue to pour into the city," he said.
He explained that since people who enter Jakarta come mostly
from lower income groups, the city concentrates its program on
the low-cost apartments.
"The low-cost apartments will be built mostly in slum areas,
including Karet Tengsin, Bendungan hilir, Tanah Tinggi,
Petamburan and Kebon Kacang, where land is owned by the
government while their land titles are for housing purposes," he
said.
Surjadi said that the city administration will continue the
public presentation on low-cost apartment in a bid to help
prevent similar incidents between residents and city law
enforcement officials in the future. (yns)