East Jakarta's procurement of land for the East Flood Canal reached 81 percent Friday, or 777 plots of land away from the total 3,535 plots required, officials said Tuesday.
"Land acquisition in East Jakarta has reached about 81 percent," said Manson Sinaga, public relations officer for the East Jakarta municipality.
The canal will span 23.5 kilometers, taking up 113.63 hectares of land in East Jakarta and 29.6 hectares in North Jakarta.
Since 2001, the land procurement program has moved at a snail's pace, mostly hampered by land disputes and tough negotiations between land owners and the administration.
Rudy S., from the regional administration division handling the land procurement program, said that between Jan. 1 and Dec. 5 this year, a total of 52,894 square meters of land, or 259 plots, had been procured.
The administration still needs to acquire 777 plots in East Jakarta, Rudy said, including 421 plots still being negotiated or with incomplete documents, 241 plots of disputed land and 115 plots of land housing social and public facilities.
"We are still encountering problems, mostly concerning plots of land where more than one person has claimed ownership," Manson said.
The administration will procure 129 plots through a consignment system.
The consignment system, approved in April this year, grants East and North Jakarta district courts the power to decide the sum of money allocated to owners of disputed land.
Therefore, the administration can continue with excavation of the land and construction of the canal, while land disputes are settled at court.
Owners who refuse to accept payment calculated using the tax-based price, rather than the higher market price, should settle the matter in court, Rudy said, adding that owners might even receive less money through the court system.
The East Flood Canal will stretch across 11 subdistricts in East Jakarta: Cakung Timur, Cipinang Besar Selatan, Cipinang Muara, Duren Sawit, Pondok Bambu, Malaka Sari, Malaka Jaya, Pon-dok Kopi, Pulo Gebang, Pondok Kelapa and Ujung Menteng.
It will function as a shortcut to direct six major rivers that run through Greater Jakarta - Cipinang, Sunter, Buaran, Jatikramat, Cakung and Blencong - to the sea.
