T

he city administration is set to develop parks in 14 locations with a budget of Rp 15.48 billion (US$1.1 million) this year in a bid increase the city'€™s low open green space ratio.

Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bappeda) head Tuty Kusumawati said that as of the end of 2015, 9.8 percent of the city'€™s total area of 661 square kilometers comprised open green space, while the ideal proportion was 30 percent.

'€œMost land in Jakarta is already owned and used by individuals or private companies. It is hard to find land to develop an open green space,'€ Tuty told reporters at City Hall recently.

She said that once the city administration secured land to develop into open green space, a gubernatorial decree would be issued for the development. In 2015, Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama issued 14 gubernatorial decrees to develop open green spaces in 14 different locations.

The locations, among others, were on Jl. Aselih, Jl. Muara and Jl. Kebagusan in Jagakarsa, and
Jl. Raya Kebayoran Lama in South Jakarta, Jl. Swadaya in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, and Jl. Swakarsa in Duren Sawit, East Jakarta.

Separately, the Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency'€™s parks division head, Putut Widya Martata, said that his side had allocated this year Rp 1 trillion to procure 50 plots of land, lower than the Rp 2.3 trillion allocated for land procurement in 2015. Putut said that the allocation was cut by more than half due to the low spending in 2015.

'€œIn 2015, we allocated Rp 2.3 trillion to procure land for open green spaces. However, our spending only reached about 50 percent,'€ Putut told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

He said that the low spending was cause by difficulties faced in land procurement, which Putut said was the main obstacle to developing open green spaces. Putut said that his unit last year had targeted to procure at least 50 hectares of land in 61 separate locations, but less than half of the target was reached.

Putut explained that land procurement was a rigorous process, as negotiations with land owners took time. In other cases where the city'€™s legally owned land was occupied by residents, the parks and cemeteries agency must cooperate with the housing and government building agency to provide low-cost rental apartments (rusunawa) for the occupiers before emptying the land. Such a process was also difficult as residents would refuse relocation, Putut said.

Therefore, he said, the agency aimed to procure this year at least 50 plots of land aside from the 15 that had been formalized through gubernatorial decrees.

'€œThe location varies depending on where we can find procurable land, because procurement is the most difficult part of developing open green spaces,'€ Putut said.

He went on to say that the parks division aimed to build this year parks in 14 locations, a combined total area 64,886 square meters, with a budget of Rp 15.48 billion. Among others, he said that the parks would be situated on Jl. Jangrik and Jl. Sadar, both in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, as well as Jl. Centex in Ciracas, South Jakarta.

Putut said that open green spaces consisted of not only parks but also cemeteries and trees, grass and plants on median strips, the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways, as well as the greens on verge side barriers on each side of a road.