T

he Depok administration expects an increase of Rp 500 million (US$51,430) in its annual income this year from the fees imposed on newcomers, despite measures to curb immigrants.

Secretary of the municipality's Population and Civil Registration Agency, Hanny Hamidah, said that last year, the administration had collected a total of Rp 1.7 billion.

'The income from levies on newcomers exceeded the target of Rp 1.1 billion last year, therefore this year we expect more,' she said on Tuesday.

Since last year, the municipality obliges each newcomer applying for an identity card to pay an extra of
Rp 100,000 to curb population increase.

The agency recorded almost 30,000 newcomers in 2012, with fewer than 18,000 moving out. The net influx has forced the municipality to impose the levies.

The agency also recorded that the total number of residents in the 200 square-kilometer city increased by almost 70 percent in the past 10 years. More than 1.8 million people now live in Depok, up from 1.1 million in 2000.

The population density in Depok has also steadily increased by 5 percent each year. Now 9,055 people reside in every square kilometer of the city's area.

Hanny said that the new target of income was not encouraging immigration since there were still long-term residents who had yet to apply for ID cards.

'The policy to curb population increase is successful because during the first quarter this year, we recorded only 6,143 newcomers and 4,292 residents moved out. The population increase is not significant,' she said.

The agency's head of population division, Epi Yanti, said that most of residents who had yet to apply for Depok ID cards lived in areas bordering Jakarta such as in Pondok Cina, Kukusan and Kemiri Muka subdistricts. Others lived on the borders with Bogor and Tangerang such as in Bojongsari, Pondok Terong, Pondok Petir and Kedaung subdistricts.

'Most of them do not realize that their residences are in Depok so they apply for ID cards from other administrations,' Epi said.

She said that the municipality administration allowed residents declined to be a permanent resident of Depok to apply for Residential Permit (SKKT) as substitute of ID card.

'The permit, however, is only extendable once after one year, so that the permit holders have to apply for permanent residential letter or identity cards,' she said.