Wooden houses built in Bogor
JAKARTA (JP): A resort in Bogor is claiming to be the latest in environmentally-friendly housing, with garden homes that follow ground contours, and leave natural catchments undisturbed.
The houses are built mainly out of wood and only 20 percent is concrete. Buyers can choose from a number of designs. The concept also means the homes are built on only 20 percent of the total plot.
"There are homes near water catchments, and others on hills for those who don't like living near water," said Pound Sterling R.G. Harahap, the owner of Pound Media Propertindo.
Buyers get 10 fruit trees of their choice on the 1,000-square- meter plots. The average price is Rp 120 million (US$51,260).
However the resort area in Bojong Gede, three kilometers off Jl. Raya Parung kilometer 37, is still limited to graduates of the University of Indonesia. It is named the "Garden House Project of the UI Alumni Association."
"On weekends they can take care of their fruit trees, go fishing or cycling," Pound Sterling, a graduate of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences said.
The launching of the project is scheduled for May 5. Minister of Housing Akbar Tanjung and West Java Governor Nuriana are expected to officiate the event.
The first phase is prioritized for graduates who can afford the houses. These high income graduates, many of them government officials, will then hopefully invest in the project to enable others to own smaller plots.
Owners will not have the luxury of their own shopping center, Pound Sterling says, as the highly-educated graduates must play a role in developing the local community.
"So there's a business and educational side to the marketing," he said. "If graduates live here they will have a deeper sense of belonging to the area."
Security guards and high walls do not exist, he said. The Alumni Association, led by Haryadi Darmawan, the inspector general at the Ministry of Forestry, has decided the area must not be exclusive.
The garden house concept is one that developers are increasingly seeing as attractive.
Three years ago the Billabong Park View, also in Parung, marketed "garden homes" on 375-square-meter plots with 15 fruit trees.
In a recent housing exhibition, "fruit garden homes" were offered with plots starting from 60 square meters in Krawang, one kilometer off the Cikampek toll road. Prices for these 21-square- meter homes, targeted at commuters working in Jakarta, start from Rp 10.8 million.
Buyers get two to three fruit trees, which already exist on Citra Kebunmas' plots, which is a former privately-owned estate. (anr)