T

he Jakarta administration expects to soon complete the land-acquisition process that has delayed the development of the Lebak Bulus to Blok M, both in South Jakarta, line of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system.

Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said at City Hall on Wednesday that the city administration would resort to compulsory purchase should negotiations with the land owners fail to reach an agreement within a month.

Ahok said the city administration and the land owners would have three opportunities to come to an agreement before handing the case over to the district court to decide the price.

The governor also urged the National Land Agency (BPN) to speed up the process of mapping the location, so the negotiations could be implemented soon.

'€œWe are dependant on the BPN to complete the process of land acquisition,'€ he said.

Ahok said he had been communicating with the BPN over the matter but the process seemed to be slow. '€œBPN is the one that can propose a compulsory purchase scheme to the district court,'€ he said.

He added that the land acquisition had disrupted the construction of the MRT. '€œThat'€™s why I often suggest that land acquisition should be handled by the city administration, not the BPN as we haven'€™t the authority to force them,'€ he said.

PT MRT Jakarta, the operator of the MRT project, previously aimed to have the land acquisition for the elevated track from Lebak Bulus to Blok M completed by last year.

However, while the underground project has now reached the process of installing the drill in Senayan, South Jakarta, the process of construction of the elevated track is behind schedule.

Previously, Financial and Asset Management Board (BPKAD) head Heru Budi Hartono said a delay in land acquisition in Lebak Bulus had affected the construction timeline and would cost the city administration and the central government an estimated Rp 500 billion (US$37 million) in fines. Meanwhile, assistant to city secretary for development Mara Oloan Siregar forecast that the project would require an extra Rp 1.3 trillion.

BPN'€™s Jakarta office head Zulkifli Ansori said his agency had completed 75 percent of the land acquisition.

Zulkifli said that the BPN had measured and recorded 227 of the 240 land plots affected by the project along Jl. Pasar Jumat, Jl. Fatmawati, Jl. TB Simatupang, Jl. Haji Nawi and Jl. Cipete Raya.

'€œThe measurement of four plots needs to be repeated at the land owners'€™ request, while the other nine have not been measured as there were changes in the alignment,'€ he said. The plots are located in Lebak Bulus, Cipete and Pondok Labu.