T

he Public Works Ministry is planning to revamp the disaster-struck Situ Gintung area by constructing a new tributary and green areas.

However, residents of the area affected by the plan have complained they have not been informed of land acquisition prices.

An area below the Situ Gintung dam was devastated in March when part of the dam wall burst, killing at least 100 residents, and causing more than 500 families to lose their homes.

Many have argued that the dam broke because of neglect and the misuse of some areas upstream that had been developed into housing complexes, reducing its capacity to retain water as originally intended.

A seminar earlier this month revealed a plan to manage water from the dam better, by channelling it through a river, buffered with green spaces on both embankments.

According to the ministry's data, when the lake was first constructed in 1932 it was 31 hectares in size, and had an average depth of 10 meters and capacity of 21 billion liters. However, over the years the dam has shrunk to 21.4 hectares, and more recently had an average depth of 4 meters and capacity of 856 million liters.

South Tangerang Spatial Planning Subagency chief Sri Aprianti said the plan would benefit the area, because it would improve public facilities.

"The housing complex will be more neatly arranged; there will be a proper drainage system and green spaces; and the ownership of land will be more clear," Sri said.

The plan requires 34 properties to make room for the 6-meter-wide channel and its 10-meter-wide green buffer zones either side.

The ministry intends to submit its site plan to Tangerang administration for approval by the end of the year, and red poles have already been put in place to mark out areas affected. However, several land owners have been left in confusion, especially regarding payment for their land.

"I was invited to a meeting last week, but they did not inform us of land prices. They just explained the construction plan to us," Saanah, a land owner, said last week.

Zainudin, another resident, said land owners should be given more say in land acquisition arrangements.

"If land prices are based on the taxable value of property, let's say that a person has 50 square meters of land and the taxable value of their property is only Rp 400,000 *around US$40* per square meter, that person will not get enough money to buy land elsewhere," he said.

Meanwhile, residents who are still living in refugee shelters recently received notice that they will not be allowed to remain there much longer.

"Public order officers arrived yesterday to make an announcement that we had to leave this place within 12 days," said Bachtiar, who was living at the Kertamukti 1 refugee site with his family.

"We have been given compensation money, but it was not enough," he said.