Sutiyoso backs calls to scrap Mulia's second tower proposal

JAKARTA (JP): Amid to-ings and fro-ings this week about the proposed second tower at Hotel Mulia Senayan, Governor Sutiyoso has backed the city councilors' calls to scrap the project.

Sutiyoso said yesterday that he would not rule out the possibility of ordering the hotel's management to halt construction.

"The council's voice is the voice of the people and it should be respected."

Sutiyoso said he was waiting for a formal letter from the councilors outlining their objections and urging the municipality to prohibit Hotel Mulia Senayan's management from pushing ahead with its plan to build the tower.

The hotel's management has come under fire recently because it is located in Senayan, which was earmarked as a green area, and the first tower violated a high-rise building permit. The hotel had approval to build a 16-story hotel but the management turned it into a 40-story complex.

The 56-story tower, if built, is to provide serviced apartments and a shopping center.

Sutiyoso's remarks yesterday contradicted head of the city's planning agency Ahmaddin Ahmad's statements on Thursday that there is no problem with the proposed location of the hotel's second tower.

Ahmaddin said that the construction of the hotel's tower is not a problem because other high-rise buildings have already been constructed there.

The chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party faction, Lukman Mokoginta, urged the governor to be bold enough to stop the tower's construction.

The hotel was initially needed to accommodate some 1,800 athletes and officials participating in last month's 19th SEA Games.

But the games have finished so "why then does the management still want to build a second tower," Lukman said.

The head of City Council's Commission D for development affairs, Ali Wongso Sinaga, praised the governor for his stance.

He said the commission would investigate the matter and invite the hotel's executives "to discuss the problem".

Ali said the executives' viewpoint would help the commission make an assessment, which would be submitted in a formal letter to the governor.

"We'll formally invite the executives as soon as possible so we can hear their side of the story," he said. (ind)