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Jakarta Post

Problems arise as village project starts

With the start of the renovation of a slum in the posh Kebayoran Baru area of South Jakarta, residents are finding it difficult to find temporary dwellings pending the completion of the kampung deret (villages in rows) project

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Wed, November 6, 2013

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Problems arise as village project starts

W

ith the start of the renovation of a slum in the posh Kebayoran Baru area of South Jakarta, residents are finding it difficult to find temporary dwellings pending the completion of the kampung deret (villages in rows) project.

Previously there was a kampung deret project in Tanah Tinggi, Johor Baru, Central Jakarta.

The residents of Petogogan, a densely populated neighborhood of 123 houses that lies behind big, old houses and niche restaurants, had started to tear down their houses after the start of the project on Friday.

To their surprise, they received help from contractors scavenging for used construction materials.

'€œI don'€™t know how, but somehow the contractors heard the city administration would build this area into a kampung deret and they came to buy the materials of our house. They even sent workers to dismantle our house,'€ said Mimin, 48, one of the residents, on Tuesday.

Some pick-up trucks were waiting for the house materials on Jl. Wijaya I, in front of a small alley that lead to the slum area.

Another ambitious project of Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, the project aims to replace densely populated areas and cramped alleys with orderly rows of houses. At the same time, the project will also aim to improve sanitation and electrical installments to prevent disease outbreaks and fires.

For the project, the administration will build several prototypes of two-story houses and distribute Rp 54 million (US$4,753) gradually to each house owner to build uniformed houses, beritajakarta.com reported on Friday.

A resident representative, Rakat Krisna, 50, said the governor had warned them to not use the money for anything but their house construction.

'€œWe can'€™t use it to buy a motorcycle or a television,'€ he said.

News of the project had apparently reached the owners of rented housing in the vicinity.

'€œThe landlords have heard about the money and they think we can spend the money as we like, so they'€™ve increased the rent,'€ Rakat said. '€œWe have to pay the rent fee with our own money.'€

Rakat said he rented a house in Sawah Besar for Rp 1 million per month, whereas the rent rate usually stood at Rp 600,000 to Rp 800,000. '€œSome places even reach Rp 1.2 million,'€ he said.

Widya, 41, also said the rent price in nearby villages had increased to between Rp 1.3 million and Rp 1.5 million per month.

'€œThey [the landlords] asked for three months payment up front as they thought we already had the money. The fact is we haven'€™t received it yet,'€ she said.

By selling her house'€™s materials, she said she could only cover part of the rent. '€œIt depends on the weight [of the materials], but I can earn Rp 600,000 to Rp 700,000 from it.'€

She also had to close her Internet cafe business in her house during the construction and added that she still had school fees and a mortgage to pay.

Ade, who rented houses, said he had not raised the rent. '€œIf the price reaches millions of rupiah, maybe they pay annually,'€ he said, adding his place cost Rp 500,000 to Rp 600,000.

As of Tuesday, the administration had completed the construction of the prototype house frame built on vacant land.

According to Rakat, Jokowi promised to finish the project within two months.

'€œSeeing this condition, when people are still in the process of dismantling their houses, I think it'€™ll be difficult to finish it in two months,'€ said Rakat.

The kampung deret project in Petogogan is one of Jokowi'€™s efforts projects to tidy up 5,000 houses around Jakarta and costs the city around Rp 280 billion in total. (nai)

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