Yogie urges action against housing speculators
Yogie urges action against housing speculators
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. yesterday denounced the speculators who have been buying up houses, which, he said, drives up prices and deprives those in need of affordable housing.
During a meeting with governors and regency chiefs to discuss the government's housing policy, Yogie urged local administrators to take action against speculators.
He noted that the sales of new houses have been booming in the major cities of Indonesia.
However, many of the houses have not been occupied since they were purchased for speculative purposes, he said, noting that the trend holds true for both luxury and low-cost houses.
Many people are buying houses simply to rake in as much profit as possible, he said.
"The situation must not be tolerated," he said.
The two-day meeting was scheduled to be closed yesterday by Vice-President Try Sutrisno.
President Soeharto, during a ceremony to launch 240,000 low- cost houses on Thursday, urged urban administrators to assist in the development of low cost houses and apartments.
To overcome the problem of soaring land prices, he proposed that local governments build apartments and new housing facilities for the poor living in slum areas.
Yogie and State Minister for National Development Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita took turns yesterday hammering home the message during the meeting with governors and regency chiefs.
The two ministers underlined the need for local governments to give priority to details of site plans, which clearly mark land areas designated for low cost housing.
Most current spatial planning maps identify housing areas, without indicating the areas for industrial sites.
"The designation of land for low cost houses in spatial plans must be followed by the supervision of the permits issued by local administrations," Ginandjar said.
He added that the government plans to issue a regulation to enforce the 1992 Law No. 24 on Spatial Planning.
Yogie warned that failure to meet the government's target of building 500,000 units of low cost houses during the current Sixth Five Year Plan would discredit the government.
Such failure, he said, could lead to endless political polemics.
The chairman of the Indonesian Real Estate Association, Enggartiasto Lukita, welcomed the government's admission to designate land low cost houses.
With transparent spatial plans and strict supervision, "speculators will not be interested in land marked for the poor," Enggartiasto told reporters yesterday.
He proposed that the authorities also set standard prices for such land.
The lack of standardized land prices has allowed speculators to take advantage of the situation as soon as the developers forward their requests for building permits, he said.
He revealed that the association's 2,000-plus members "are forced to employ brokers for 90 percent of all land appropriations", which, he said, causes more losses for both developers and land owners.
"If we do not work with brokers, they (speculators) would buy up all the land and claim to act on behalf of residents when they demand compensation."
This then leads to land disputes and delays in construction and further financial losses, Enggartiasto said.
Speculation can also be avoided by a government-set price for land based on after-tax prices, he said.
Minister of Public Works Radinal Moochtar also addressed the meeting.
He said the involvement of the private sector will be vital to building infrastructure and enabling the government to concentrate on services to the low income sector. (anr)