Tangerang to tighten control on BTS towers

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The Tangerang city administration will soon relocate hundreds of Base Transceiver Station (BTS) towers built by telecommunication service providers across the area in response to residents’ complaints.

“The presence of BTS towers, which were built without permission at random places, is not only disturbing the aesthetics of the city, but has also disturbed residents living in the vicinity of the towers,” Jamaludin, a resident of Pinang subdistrict told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

He said that some of the towers were built without permits from the municipal administration.

“So far, there has yet to be any explanation from the telecommunication service providers whether the BTS towers they built here have adverse impacts on human health. The presence of the towers scares the residents,” he said.

Denny Irawan, a resident of Cipondoh subdistrict, also complained about the increasing number of BTS towers in his
neighborhood.

“It seems that there is no effort to control or curb the proliferation of BTS towers by the administration, leaving communication service providers to build towers at random places as they like,” he said.

Therefore, he added, the Tangerang municipal administration must take stern measures against companies that failed to secure permits to build the towers and relocate or integrate the towers.

Saiful Rohman, the head of the Tangerang city Information and Communication Agency, acknowledged that the number of BTS in 13 districts across the municipality had continued to spiral out of control.

“There are 287 BTS towers in Tangerang municipality and some of them have no permits,” he said.

According to Saiful, the agency would relocate and integrate the 287 BTS towers to 50 locations so that they can be easily identified and monitored.

“We have proposed a regulation on tower relocation to Mayor Wahidin Halim,” he said, adding that the agency had planned to relocate the towers early next year.

In the regulation draft, a tower must be built at least 200 meters from residential areas.

Separately, Rudy Haryadi, the head of the municipal Public Order Agency, said that his agency was ready to remove BTS towers that lacked proper permits if requested by other related agencies.

“We dismantled a BTS tower in Pinang district because it was erected without a permit from the administration,” he said.