Thamrin defends building of small apartments
Thamrin defends building of small apartments
JAKARTA (JP): Director of city-owned construction company PD Sarana Jaya Thamrin Djamain defended yesterday the city administration's determination to build 18-square-meter low cost apartments.
Thamrin told reporters that the city administration will not stop building the 18 square-meter apartments just because of criticism that they are too small for humans to live in.
Thamrin reiterated that he had never made any statement on the cessation of the project.
"Any news saying that the project will be stopped is groundless because the city administration intends to continue to build this type of apartment in an effort to improve the conditions of people living in slum areas," Thamrin said.
Critics stated recently that the 18 square-meter apartments are inhumane and not suitable as homes.
However, Thamrin said this type of building is considered the most feasible in terms of finance and ability of the people to buy or rent the units.
This type of apartment is much better than shanties and other temporary buildings in slum areas, he said, and based on research conducted by the company there are many people in slum areas who live in mere 12-square-meter houses.
When asked the number of 18 square-meter apartments to be built in the city, Thamrin said that it will be handled by the City Housing Office.
"I cannot answer that question because the policy on that matter is set by the City Housing Office," he said.
Renting apartments
However, due to the financial condition of the administration, Thamrin said his company has proposed to rent the apartments of the above type rather than sell them.
"Under the rental system, the subsidy to be provided by the administration is small. Moreover, the system will enable many low income people to afford to have a place to live," he said.
He explained that the city administration is forced to provide a subsidy amounting to 50 percent of the price of apartments sold, while with renting the administration only has to provide management fees.
Thamrin said the rent for an 18 square-meter apartment is set at Rp 900 (US$0.40) to Rp 2,500 per day and that even unemployed people can afford to rent at that rate.
Thamrin said at the moment his company is renting about 3,000 small low cost apartments all over the city, including in Tambora, Karang Anyar and Penjaringan.
Originally, Thamrin said, the city administration through PD Sarana Jaya only intended to rent apartments for those who badly need it. The tenants were required to pay the rents on a daily basis. In its development, however, the company started to sell the units as well.
"Up until now the city administration has built two complexes of low cost apartments in Penjernihan and Tanah Tinggi to be sold to potential buyers. These facilities were built under financial assistance from developers of luxurious apartments," he said. (yns)