T

he Jakarta administration is set to develop the capital into a pedestrian-friendly city and will start by expanding sidewalks this year.

Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama acknowledged that Jakarta was not pedestrian-friendly and said that as a first step he would broaden sidewalks to 5 meters. Development in Jakarta has thus far accommodated motorists with wide paved roads, while pedestrians suffer due to substandard sidewalks and a lack of reliable public transportation.

'€œWe want to begin making wide and comfortable sidewalks for pedestrians to encourage residents to walk more and take public transportation,'€ he said at a workshop at the Bina Marga Agency roads office in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.

Ahok explained that the city administration would cooperate with pedestrian communities in designing the sidewalks.

'€œWe will invite pedestrian communities to share their ideas with us of a pedestrian-friendly city. They will help us develop a grand design,'€ he said.

Bina Marga Agency head Yusmada Faizal said that starting this year, the agency would ask building managements to tear down their gates and fences and develop public sidewalks from lobby to fence.

'€œWe will ask building managements to participate in our program and we will offer them an incentive,'€ Yusmada said at the same occasion. As an incentive, he explained, a building'€™s land and building tax would be reduced according to the amount of land used to develop a sidewalk. For example, he said, if a building management developed a 100-square-meter sidewalk from building entrance to fence, no tax would be charged on the 100 square meters.

Such a program will be conducted along the streets of Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta as a pilot project, followed by Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta and Rawamangun in East Jakarta, Yusmada said.

'€œWe will gradually expand the program to all areas across Jakarta,'€ he said.

Separately, the president director of state-owned Sarinah department store, which is located on Jl. MH Thamrin, lauded the plan and its incentive. '€œThe plan sounds good. We are on board,'€ president director Ira Puspadewi said on Tuesday.

Ira said the plan was fair as it provided an incentive for building managements in the form of reduced building tax, pointing out that tax along Jl. MH Thamrin was high.

Building tax is paid based on the taxable value of property (NJOP). According to Gubernatorial Regulation No. 260/2015 on the calculation of the NJOP value of rural and urban buildings, the NJOP along Jl. MH Thamrin is Rp 73.9 million (US$5,381) per square meter, while for Jl. Sudirman it is Rp 71.4 million per square meter.

Ira, however, said security measures would be stepped up at Sarinah, as it meant that the building would not be gated or fenced in.

'€œWe will make sure that the design of the landscape is secure, and we will also increase security,'€ Ira said.

Former governor Sutiyoso introduced this idea during his term in early 2000, only a few years after the 1998 riots. Many building managements rejected the idea because uncertainty remained about security.

President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo tried to reintroduce the plan in 2013, but also met with rejection by building managements for the same reason.