J

akarta: University of Indonesia (UI) lecturer Tarsoen Wiryono said on Friday that the construction of some buildings on the campus had violated the campus’ development master plan, possibly resulting in spatial planning-related problems in the future.

“Some construction activities are not in line with the master plan of campus development,” said Tarsoen, an expert on spatial planning from UI’s School of Geography.

Citing an example, he said the spaces between buildings were not in accordance with the master plan’s requirements.

According to the master plan, the space between buildings should be 25 meters at a minimum. But in fact, some buildings on the UI campus are at a distance of between 10 to 15 meters.

“Currently, this doesn’t present any problems, it may cause some problems in the future,” said Tarsoen.

The UI master plan, he said, required that all buildings on the campus should refer to a national architecture style, meaning that each building must be divided into three parts: head, body and leg. However, some buildings, including the UI library, had adopted a different architecture style.

“The architectural values adopted in the development of the library are different from the architectural spirit adopted in the master plan,” said Tarsoen as quoted by kompas.com.

Citing another example, he said that pedestrian pathways connecting UI’s School of Math and Science (F-MIPA) to the UI mosque had been cut due to the construction of several buildings. As the result, pedestrians had poor access to those two places.

“Sacrificing the pedestrian pathways is totally the wrong decision,” he said.

The UI master plan has been revised several times since it was first developed in 1987. The university’s communication officer, Siane Indriani, said campus officials had to revise the 1987 master plan in 1997 due to growing activities inside the campus.

She said the new master plan had included the construction of new faculties and the expansion of several campus buildings, as well as the development of a study center and student dormitories.

The master plan was again revised in 2008.