Workers worry about new housing policy

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Construction workers have expressed wariness after the government announced its intention to review the issuance of permits for the building of new housing complex projects in Greater Jakarta in an effort to prevent future flooding.

The workers complained that their livelihoods could be jeopardized if the plan were implemented.

"The government cannot do that! Where else could we get a job during the hard times like the present? How will we feed our families at home?" Suwarno, 32, said bitterly.

Suwarno, a former becak (pedicab) driver, became a construction worker after his becak was seized by city officers during a raid three years ago. As a worker, the father of two could earn up to Rp 300,000 a week and send his eldest child to elementary school.

"How can I pay my child's school fees? I don't want her to drop out of school like I did," said Suwarno, who dropped out of junior high school.

However, Suwarno's colleague, Aji, was cool-headed as he believed that the government was only threatening developers.

"The government would not do that. It must consider that if the plan were carried out, hundreds of thousands of people like us would become unemployed," said the high school graduate.

But deep down, Aji, whose wife is pregnant, was worried. "It's not easy to get a job nowadays. Besides, I couldn't go back to my hometown as I'd have nothing to do there," he said.

Minister of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure Soenarno announced last week the suspension of housing complex projects in Greater Jakarta for six months. The government would review the projects' feasibility, including an environmental impact assessment and the city master plan. Should there be violations, it would annul the permits.

Governor Sutiyoso, however, rejected the idea. The Indonesian Real Estate Developers Association (REI) also objected, warning that about 1.3 million people would be jobless should it be implemented.

However, the Indonesia Property Study Center gave another figure, saying that the suspension would leave hundreds of thousands of people unemployed.

Soenarno revised his earlier statement on Monday, explaining that the government would not suspend housing complex projects now but would temporarily freeze the issuance of new projects.

The government had blamed developers for the reduction in green areas. In fact, developers could not have carried out the projects without the issuance of permits from the administration. This was made possible because in 1995 the city administration revised the 1985-2005 master plan, deleting many green areas. Critics have called for the revision of the current 1995-2010 masterplan as it is inimical to sustainable development, but so far there has been no serious response from the administration.