Toll operator demands eviction

JAKARTA: Toll road operator PT Jasa Marga repeated its demand to the South Jakarta administration to evict residents of an area that is part of the Veteran-Ulujami toll road project.

Five landowners still refuse to sell their land for Rp 2.2 million (US$244) per square-meter as offered, delaying completion of the project, which has been underway since September 2002.

"Governor Sutiyoso has rejected the landowners' request for a higher land price ... there is no reason for the South Jakarta administration to delay the project. Please order public order officers to evict them," Jasa Marga director Syarifuddin Alambai was quoted by TempoNewsRoom as saying on Thursday.

Mayor Dadang Kafrawi said the evictions would be carried out after the July 5 presidential election "to avoid the politicization of the situation". -- JP