Old town buildings could collapse

Mustaqim Adamrah , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 06/23/2008 10:36 AM | City

Seven severely damaged buildings in Jakarta's old town area may collapse if no immediate measures are taken, an official said over the weekend.

The Jakarta Culture and Museum Agency head of heritage sites, Candrian Attahiyat, said the buildings' ceilings were damaged.

"The buildings' ability to withstand rain and wind has also diminished," he said.

"Rain has made the ceiling constructions porous and more fragile," he said.

Candrian said the seven buildings include one owned by state enterprise PT Cipta Niaga, one owned by state enterprise PT Kerta Niaga, two compounded buildings owned by Bank Mandiri and one building owned by state insurance firm PT Jasindo.

The other two buildings are a compounded building situated behind the Maritime Museum and a building next to the Kota Tua terminal on Jl. Nelayan, West Jakarta.

Candrian said a building, formerly known as the Jakarta Lloyd building, on Jl. Pintu Besar Utara, West Jakarta, could collapse.

"Its walls are so fragile because it was abandoned and left unoccupied. It may collapse soon," he said.

The damaged buildings are among 283 decaying buildings in the old town heritage site situated in West Jakarta and North Jakarta.

Five building collapses have occurred in the last four months due to aging and poor maintenance by the owners.

On Wednesday, a trash-picker was killed when a heritage building's wall collapsed on him.

The incident took place in Roamalaka, West Jakarta.

Two incidents occurred in February and March when an old building on Jl. Tiang Bendera V, Roamalaka, and an empty warehouse on Jl. Krapu, North Jakarta, collapsed. There was one fatality in each incident.

On Feb. 3, a ceiling beam collapsed in a storage building at the Maritime Museum complex, while a building of shipping company PT Samudra Indonesia on Jl. Kopi collapsed on Feb. 1.

No fatalities were reported from those two incidents.

Following the latest incident, Candrian said his team would investigate the cause and would provide suggestions to the owner on how to repair the damage in accordance with conservation regulations.

In addition, the service unit would propose a budget to the council next year to conduct a study, he said.

The study would provide recommendations of the best decision on the future of each building at the heritage site, but carrying them out would be the owners' responsibility.

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