Thousands of families to lose homes to ring road project

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of families in South Jakarta will lose their land this year for the development of another segment of Jl. TB Simatupang ring road, an official said yesterday.

"The exact numbers are not available. But, we estimate there are thousands of people who will have their land appropriated for the project," M. Yanis, the spokesman for the South Jakarta mayoralty, told the Jakarta Post.

Yanis said that, starting next year, the Ministry of Public Works will construct another ten kilometer segment of the Jl. TB Simatupang ring road, from Jl. Ciputat Raya through Joglo subdistrict, which lies on the border of West Jakarta mayoralty.

The land appropriation is scheduled to finish this year.

Yanis said there are seven subdistricts in the mayoralty which will be affected by the development. They are Pondok Pinang, Bintaro, Pesanggrahan, Ulujami, Petukangan Selatan and Petukangan Utara subdistricts.

Yanis said the mayoralty informed the residents in the affected areas on the planned project last week and began fencing the would-be ring road area yesterday.

"As a matter of fact, most of the residents were already aware of the plan," said Yanis.

According to Yanis, after the fencing process the mayoralty will form a team assigned to asses the property of the residents to be affected by the project and the amount of compensation to be received by each of them.

Yanis said that, in his past experience, the compensation for the land is often more expensive than the cost of the entire undertaking.

The construction, which is part of the larger blueprint for Jakarta's Outer Ring Road Project, is meant to help solve traffic congestion throughout the city.

Yanis said the development of the ring road will help ease the flow of motorists on several streets, including Jl. Ciputat Raya, Jl. Bintaro Raya and Jl. Cileduk Raya.

For the city as a whole, he added, the ring road will smoothen the east-west traffic flow. Through the ring road, motorists may avoid being caught in traffic snarls at the center of the city.

Yanis said, once completed, this new road will be between 80 and 96 meters wide.(jsk)