West Jakarta Municipal Government States Crematorium Building Permit in Kalideres is Legal Despite Absence of Environmental Licence

Jakarta — Lamhot Tambunan, Head of the Capital Investment Management and Single Window Integrated Service Unit (UP PM-PTSP) for West Jakarta, has affirmed that the issuance of a Building Approval (PBG) for the Swarga Abadi funeral home and crematorium in Kalideres is legally valid.

This statement refutes allegations from residents and members of the Jakarta City Council who contend that the permit contains administrative defects because it preceded the issuance of environmental licences, including Environmental Management Plan and Effort (UKL-UPL) documents and Environmental Impact Assessment (Amdal).

Tambunan explained that the controversy arises from changes to licensing regulations governing building permits. The current licensing procedure no longer references Regional Regulation (Perda) Number 7 of 2010 on Buildings from the Building Permit (IMB) era. Instead, licensing now follows Government Regulation (PP) Number 16 of 2021 and PP Number 28 of 2025.

“In the past with IMB, you had to have the environmental documents first before you could proceed to IMB, or you had to have UKL-UPL first before IMB. Now that is not the case; both are positioned as basic requirements, equivalent to each other,” Tambunan said when met by Kompas.com at the West Jakarta PTSP office on Thursday (12 March 2026).

“So whether you obtain the PBG first or UKL-UPL first is fine. It is actually already compliant; there is no violation administratively on our end since the initial application stage on 3 December 2025,” he added.

Tambunan further explained that under the new licensing system, both the PBG and environmental approval hold equal standing. Neither conditions the other; rather, both are mandatory requirements for issuing a business licence through the integrated system (OSS).

“All environmental approvals, building approvals, and other government approvals do not serve as prerequisites for one another, but they collectively form the licensing requirements for business operations,” Tambunan clarified.

However, he acknowledged that there are indeed overlapping regulations between the former IMB rules and the current updates on building permits.

“We can no longer think of environmental documents as a primary requirement for building permits; they can proceed in parallel, unlike the IMB era,” he stated.

Although the numbered PBG was legally issued on 28 January 2026, Tambunan assured that the environmental licensing process will continue. The PTSP has submitted a request for technical recommendations to the West Jakarta Sub-office of Environmental Affairs (Sudin LH) since mid-February.

“The current status is that the technical approval meeting for wastewater quality standards has been conducted. The process is currently at the stage of document improvement. The consultant engaged by the foundation is revising the documents based on feedback from the Sub-office of Environmental Affairs,” he said.