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and owners affected by the construction of the first phase of the MRT project in South Jakarta seemed to be appeased when Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan met with them last year, but it turns out they have yet to receive any compensation due to problematic inventory results.

Rashmee Mahesh Lalmalani, a resident who met with Anies in October, allowed the city administration to dismantle his property after the governor talked to him, saying that he should not impede the national project.

At the time, Mahesh, who owned a carpet shop in the affected area on Jl. Fatmawati, said he asked the city to follow proper procedure even though it would likely take more time to execute the land acquisition.

He added that he had not received any compensation and was skeptical about obtaining it in the future.

“How can I receive compensation if the land size [the administration wants to acquire] is not clear. There are also many things that haven’t been inventoried.”

Mahesh said he did not mind his land being acquired, but demanded that it had to be done based on a proper appraisal.

“Officials from related agencies like Bina Marga have visited me twice in the last few weeks to talk about the land, certificates and all. However, their inventory results do not match [the actual conditions],” he added.

Meanwhile, one of Mahesh’s lawyers — Alvon Kurnia Palma who also represents five other
affected residents in South Cipete and South Gandaria — said his clients have never put compensation money atop of their priority regarding the land acquisition.

Alvon added that his clients questioned several things, like which part of their properties would be used for the MRT line construction, inventory of both physical and non-physical losses they would suffer, as well as the amount of compensation based on the inventory results carried out by the administration.

“Based on that matter, our clients filed a lawsuit against city administration,” he told The Jakarta Post Wednesday.

However, when they won the lawsuit in July 2017 and the administration took the case to the Supreme Court in October, the court interpreted their objection as a mere dispute regarding the amount of compensation given by the administration.

In December 2016, the city offered compensation of Rp 33 million (US$2,400) per meter up from the Rp 26 million it offered in 2015.

“My clients have never set a price. As long as the process is in accordance to the law and the inventory facts found in the field,” Alvon said, adding that they have not been compensated.

He said he was planning on taking further legal action and asked the administration to revise the inventory list if they found errors in the existing one.