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Jakarta Post

Court grants city'€™s appeal in BMW Park dispute

The Jakarta State Administrative High Court (PTTUN) has granted the city administration’s appeal against a previous lower court ruling that gave PT Buana Permata Hijau (BPH) rights over 10

Dewanti A. Wardhani (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, June 19, 2015

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Court grants city'€™s appeal in BMW Park dispute

T

he Jakarta State Administrative High Court (PTTUN) has granted the city administration'€™s appeal against a previous lower court ruling that gave PT Buana Permata Hijau (BPH) rights over 10.7 hectares of land under two separate certificates at BMW Park in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

Previously, the city administration had planned to develop a soccer stadium in BMW Park. The city held a ground-breaking ceremony for the stadium in 2014 and aimed for construction to be completed in 2017 for use in the 2018 Asian Games, which Jakarta will jointly host with Palembang and Bandung.

However, the ongoing legal dispute with BPH has hampered the city from proceeding with construction on the land.

In February, the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) granted BPH'€™s demand for ownership of the 10.7-hectare plot of land and annulled certificate number 250 and 251, which gave the city administration rights over the land.

The Law Bureau'€™s head of legal services, Solafide Sihite, said that the land was now rightfully an asset of the Jakarta administration.

'€œThe PTTUN has granted our appeal over the 10.7-hectare land. Our certificate is legal and it is no longer a dispute,'€ Solafide said over the phone on Thursday.

He went on to say that the chance of BPH filing for a cassation was unlikely as the city'€™s legal basis was solid. However, Solafide said that the Law Bureau would anticipate another move from BPH.

'€œIt'€™s very unlikely for BPH to submit a cassation; our argument has been very strong from the beginning. However, we will wait for BPH if they have another argument. The case will be continued at the MA [Supreme Court] if BPH has another argument,'€ Solafide said.

BMW Park was originally designated as a green area during the city'€™s Clean, Humane, Dignified (Bersih, Manusiawi, Wibawa or BMW) Program in the 1960s, but since the early 1990s as many as 1,400 families took over the land. In August 2008, the city administration evicted most of the squatters to develop the area into a open green space.

Previously, the city administration had allocated Rp 1.2 trillion (US$90.2 million) for the construction of the stadium. Aside from the soccer stadium, which would fit up to 50,000 people, the city administration also plans to develop a park and a lake. In total, the area would cover 66.6 hectares.

The head of the North Jakarta National Land Agency (BPN), Admiral Faizal, said that the court'€™s decision to grant the city administration'€™s appeal had been, in his opinion, correct, beritajakarta.com reported. Admiral said that the procedure of granting the city administration the land certificates was legally sound. The city administration had paid Rp 789.2 million for the land to BPH, he said, according to a North Jakarta District Court document dated 1994. Therefore, he said, the issue of ownership of the land should no longer be a problem.

Furthermore, Financial and Asset Management Board head Heru Budi Hartono said that this month he would order officers from the Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) to begin demolishing buildings on the land.

'€œWe will begin demolition this month. We aim for the land to be cleared by the end of this month,'€ Heru told The Jakarta Post at City Hall on Thursday, adding that after demolition, the Sports and Youth Agency would be responsible for calling for tenders to develop the park and soccer stadium.

Separately, City Secretary Saefullah said that the city would no longer aim for the stadium to be completed before the 2018 Asian Games. '€œWe will continue construction, but it is unlikely that the stadium will be finished before the 2018 Asian Games,'€ he said.

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