Thousands of riverbank settlers to be evicted

Thousands of riverbank settlers to be evicted

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Thousands of families living along Jakarta's riverbanks face the
possibility of being forced to seek temporary housing, because of
plans to evict them in order to widen the rivers.

Under the 2003 city budget, the City Public Works Agency is
allocating Rp 24 billion (about US$2.7 million) for clean-up
operations along the West Flood Canal, the Angke River in West
and North Jakarta, and the Pluit Dam in North Jakarta.

The head of the agency, IGKG Suena, told The Jakarta Post by
phone on Friday that the operations would be aimed at all illegal
settlers along riverbanks and around the Pluit Dam.

He estimated that the number of illegal settlers on the
riverbanks of the Angke and around the Pluit Dam numbered at
least 7,000 families.

Many riverbank families in Jakarta have lived there for many
years. Muhidi's family, for example, has lived on the banks of
the Angke River in West Jakarta since the late 1960s.

Although he admits that he does not have a land and property
ownership document for his house and the land it stands on, he
does not consider himself and his family to be illegal settlers.

"I know that this land belongs to the state; but since I
bought this house, I have been paying property taxes on it," he
said.

Muhidi, who has been head of the neighborhood unit of 80
families for the past five years, said that all families had
acquired legitimate Jakarta ID cards and had been paying property
taxes for years.

The city administration, however, has a different perception
of the term, "illegal settlers".

"All families who do not posses ownership documents but reside
on state lands are considered illegal and will be put to order,
no matter how long they have lived there," Suena said.

He said that the administration was giving Rp 500,000 "in
charity" to those who own houses, and Rp 200,000 to each family
renting a house on a riverbank.

"We will treat them all alike. No matter the condition of the
houses -- permanent or temporary -- we will give them the same
amount of money," he said. "The same amount will also be given to
those who have been paying property taxes on their houses. Just
because they pay property taxes does not mean that they can claim
ownership of state lands," he explained.

However, families who own Jakarta identity cards would be
eligible to rent low-cost apartments provided by the city. As for
families who do not have Jakarta ID cards, "It's up to them,"
said Suena. "They can go back to their hometowns."

The city has been building low-cost apartments in East
Cengkareng, West Jakarta, for the evicted families who hold
Jakarta IDs, using funds provided by Buddha Tzuchi, a Taiwanese
foundation. Suena said the apartments would accommodate about
1,000 families.

Meanwhile, head of public relations at North Jakarta
mayoralty, Anas Djabir, said that last year, his mayoralty
evicted 700 families who lived on the banks of the Angke in Kapuk
Muara subdistrict.

About 445 families have already signed up to rent an apartment
unit in the East Cengkareng estate. "The apartments will be ready
in July this year," he said.

In regards the present whereabouts of the 700 evicted
families, who are waiting for the apartments to be completed,
Suena said, "I think some of them are probably renting houses
somewhere, while some have gone back to their hometowns."