T

he city administration issued a warning letter to all squatters at Ria-Rio reservoir in Pulogadung, East Jakarta, asking them to leave the area soon to facilitate the city'€™s regreening program.

Pulogadung district leader Teguh Hendarwan said on Tuesday the city had issued the first warning letter (SP1) the day before.

'€œWe issued the letter yesterday, meaning that residents should leave the area soon. The deadline is the end of this month,'€ Teguh said at City Hall.

Teguh reiterated the city resolve to force them to relocate should they fail to comply with the warning.

'€œWe will relocate them no matter what. The consequences will be theirs,'€ he said, adding that there were 350 families squatting in the area and that '€œno one had a land certificate'€.

According to the district leader, the offer from property developer PT Pulomas Jaya, a subsidiary of city-owned PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro) '€” which owns part of the 26-hectare area '€” to give each family Rp 1 million (US$92) would not change.

'€œThe city administration has no obligation to compensate them because the land did not belong to them in the first place. However, we want to guarantee their well-being after relocation and while they wait for their allocated apartments to be ready,'€ he said.

Teguh said that some of the families had demanded that the city pay them up to Rp 30 million each, '€œbut the demand was too much. It'€™s impossible'€, he said.

Teguh is upbeat that the relocation would not turn into chaos.

'€œThey understand the consequences and are willing to relocate. Some people are just trying to pull a fast one,'€ he cited.

Of the 350 families, 65 will be relocated to Pinus Elok low-cost apartments in Cakung, East Jakarta, while the remaining households would need to wait for around two months before more apartments
are ready.

Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo said that the city administration would arrange a tour to the apartments for the new residents.

'€œWe have furnished the apartments. We'€™ll take them to look around,'€ he said.

'€œEach unit will have a TV, refrigerator, stove, etc,'€ he added.

Jokowi said that the city administration would prepare another three low-cost apartments complexes in Cipinang Besar Selatan, Komaruddin and Marunda, to accommodate the squatters.

Jakarta Parks and Cemetery Agency acting head Yonathan Pasodung said the agency had started dredging the Ria-Rio reservoir.

'€œWe have started to remove the water hyacinths using heavy equipment. Meanwhile, the construction of the park will have to wait until the deliberation of the revised budget is complete,'€ he said.

The city administration allocated Rp 3 billion to build a park on the west of the area.

The reservoir would become a water catchment are as well as an open space for public activities.