People employed in businesses in Menteng, Central Jakarta, and on Jl. Pangeran Antasari in South Jakarta, are still unsure about the future of their workplaces, months after the city administration sealed buildings they work in, for having allegedly violated residential zoning regulations.
On Jl. Pangeran Antasari, workers busy washing and hosing cars Thursday seemed to ignore red boards stating that the car wash buildings had been sealed because they were “not being used accordingly.”
The buildings were first sealed in October last year.
South Jakarta Building Supervision Subagency (P2B) said the occupants had violated zoning regulations, since the buildings were designated as residential.
“[These places] shouldn’t be closed... we have never been closed [since the administrations sealed the buildings],” one of the car washers said with a smile.
Martha, a worker in an office on the same road, said all of businesses in sealed buildings, which ranged from car wash outlets and laundry services to bigger companies such as the one she worked for, were all operating in buildings designated as residential.
The sealed buildings on Jl. HOS Cokroaminoto, Central Jakarta, include an Izzi Pizza outlet, an art gallery and a law firm.
However, the pizza outlet has remained open, albeit with limited space, since it now only uses the
first floor.
Another worker in a sealed building on Jl. HOS Cokroaminoto complained about the regulations her workplace was said to have violated.
“We have all the documents, from the tourism agency, the Jakarta Revenue Agency, and even documents for advertising taxes,” claimed the worker who asked remain anonymous.
She said she had never faced difficulties in extending business permits from those agencies.
“So we thought everything was fine [even though the permit for the building was still only a residential permit]... we thought we had been playing by the rules,” she said.
P2B reports and sanctions section chief Syahrudin said the agency was working on improving its legal framework to make sure similar violations do not occur again.
“We will work together with the governor and the Jakarta Police [to improve the regulations],” he said.
Currently, the city’s buildings are regulated under a 1991 bylaw, which Syahrudin said was outdated and had insufficient sanctions.
A more recent law, the 2002 Law on Building Regulations, has not been equipped with the necessary bylaws.
Meanwhile, West Jakarta P2B plans to knock down 250 illegal buildings this year after sealing more than 1,005 illegal buildings last year.
Sub-agency head Febriana Tambunan said Thursday that the demolition would begin in March.
Last year, the sub-agency demolished 131 illegal buildings. (dis)
