W. Jakarta land owner wants apartment project halted

JAKARTA (JP): A man who claims to own land in West Jakarta demanded a halt to an apartment project, saying the plot in the Kalideres district belonged to him.

Hadi Pratikno, who claimed to be the owner, said he repeatedly approached the developer, PT Satwika Permai Indah but to no avail, Antara reported yesterday.

Instead, his lawyer, Aris Affandi, said the company employed dozens of thugs to help secure the 2.2-hectare plot in the Pegadungan subdistrict for the apartment project.

The project in the Taman Surya V housing complex has just started.

In contesting ownership of the land Hadi also sought protection from the West Jakarta mayoralty, the Jakarta Agency for the Coordination of Support for the Development of National Stability and the National Police, Aris said.

The lawyer said the mayoralty told the developer in November it had one week to show ownership documents which it failed to do.

"The company should not be doing anything as ownership of the land is in dispute," Aris said.

"But in fact they have started the ground breaking phase."

The lawyer said Hadi bought the land from a person named Limah Meli.

Aris said his client has asked mayor Sutardijanto not to issue building permits for the project.

A resident involved in appropriating land for the Taman Surya housing project, said appropriation for the apartment site was conducted under an employee of the company's business group.

Antara reported Satwika Permai was a subsidiary of the Putra Surya Perkasa group, a publicly listed property developer.

Mayor Sutardijanto denied being involved in helping the project.

Aris said if the project goes on before the dispute was settled, it would disadvantage the people who bought the apartments units.

"I hear many of the planned units are already sold," he said. (anr)