The site has seen three groundbreaking ceremonies because of the land dispute. The most recent one was by current Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan back in May this year, after his predecessors Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Djarot Saiful Hidayat did so in 2014 and 2017, respectively.

The plot for the project, situated on the BMW Park was initially designed as a green area during the city’s Bersih, Manusiawi, Wibawa (Clean, Humane, Esteemed) program in the 1960s.

In 1994, the city administration claimed it had acquired the land by consignment funds at the North Jakarta District Court, establishing it as the legal owner of the land.

In 2014, private developer PT Buana Permata Hijau (BPH) filed a civil suit at the Jakarta Administrative Court (PTUN) alleging that the two land use permit certificates (SHP) No. 250/Kelurahan Papanggo and No. 251/Kelurahan Papanggo covering 10.7 hectares of land overlapped with BPH’s plot.

In 2015, the court initially ruled in favor of BPH but later the city administration filed an appeal that was accepted by the court.

In 2017, the North Jakarta Land Agency then issued land use certificates No. 314/Kelurahan Papanggo and No. 314/Kelurahan Papanggo to update the previous two certificates.

BPH then filed a civil suit against the two recent land use permits and the PTUN North Jakarta ruled in May this year in favor of BPH. The ruling annulled the two separate land-use right certificates for the administration issued by the National Land Agency in 2017 for the location of the stadium.

The city administration then filed an appeal with the PTTUN Jakarta, and the latter recently ruled in favor of the administration, legitimizing again the two certificates the North Jakarta Land Agency issued in 2017.

City-owned constructions company PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro) has been tasked by the Jakarta administration with turning the 22 hectare plot into a soccer stadium built to international standards with a capacity of 82,000 people, costing Rp 5 trillion (US$353 million) and expected to be completed by 2021.

The city’s lawyer, Denny Indrayana, said he had received a copy of the court ruling.

Denny said that according to the ruling, the judges had agreed with the city administration’s case that “PT Buana Permata Hijau does not have a legal interest in appealing against the BMW Stadium land use certificates.”

“The ruling of this appeal eases the efforts of Jakarta administration in building a world class stadium as the base for Jakarta’s soccer club Persija Jakarta. The ruling has reiterated that the BMW Stadium project is legal, despite hurdles that have held up the construction project,” Denny said in a written statement on Friday.

“The ruling of this appeal eases the efforts of the Jakarta administration in building a world class stadium
as the base for Jakarta’s soccer club Persija Jakarta. The ruling has reiterated that the BMW Stadium project is legal, despite hurdles that have held up the construction project.”

Jakarta Legal Bureau head Yayan Yuhanah said the administration was waiting for BPH’s next legal step, although construction would continue anyway.

“Even if they file a cassation, the construction will go on. It has no effect on the construction process,” Yayan said on Friday, kompas.com reported.

Separately, Jakpro's project director for the stadium, Iwan Takwin, concurred, saying that the company would resume the project as usual.

“The construction project in the field continues normally as according to the gubernatorial decree, Jakpro must finish this according to target,” Iwan told The Jakarta Post on Sunday, referring to Gubernatorial Decree No. 14/2019.

He said the company was currently finishing work on the foundations of the building’s structure.

BPH, however, is determined not to go down without a fight. The company’s lawyer, Damianus Renjaan, said the company felt the appeal ruling was forced and the court had no legal basis to say that BPH had no legal standing to file the suit in the first place.

“After we receive notification of the appeal, we will immediately file a cassation because the ruling has no legal basis and was forced to win over the Jakarta administration,” Damianus told the Post.

He said that he was also examining other legal avenues, such as investigating possible criminal offenses in the issuance of the land use certificates, during the construction project, or even reporting the panel of judges to the Judicial Commission over allegations of ethics misconduct.

Damianus said as a developer BPH planned to build on the plot as a business site, and the company only wanted the land acquisition by the city administration to be conducted legally as he alleged the land acquisition process in 1994 was made without consultation with BPH.

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