All buildings at Ria-Rio reservoir torn down

All buildings at Ria-Rio reservoir torn down

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Jakarta | Mon, December 02 2013, 10:17 AM


The East Jakarta Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) began dismantling hundreds of squatters’ houses in Ria-Rio reservoir in East Jakarta on Saturday morning.

East Jakarta Satpol PP head Syahdonan said the city deployed 2,704 officers comprising 1,700 Satpol PP personnel, 804 police officers and 200 officers from the Indonesian Military (TNI), tempo.co reported on Sunday.

He claimed there was no resistance from the squatters in the relocation, saying that the municipality had been familiarizing them with the plan since September and gave them several warning letters.

“They understand the situation. We have held five information sessions and gave them a final notice three days ago,” he said. The relocation previously sparked strong opposition from squatters, some of whom claimed to have consent from the family of late former vice president Muhammad Hatta, who allegedly inherited a large plot of land in the area.

The city administration settled the conflict with the squatters after Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo held a lunch with representatives of the squatters for a peaceful dialogue and negotiation.

Syahdonan said his agency had provided 40 trucks and buses to relocate the squatters to Pinus Elok low-cost apartments in Cakung, which were provided by the city administration.

East Jakarta Mayor HR Krisdiyanto provided similar information. He said around 33 percent of the total 250 families that lived in the reservoir had been relocated to Pinus Elok apartments in October. The remaining 107 families who were relocated on Saturday would also be moving into the apartments because they had taken numbers at a lottery held at the Pulogadung district office, which determined the apartments they would get. Authorities have not only paid around Rp 3 million (US$250) per family in compensation to the squatters and facilitated their children to move to their new schools in Cakung.

“Actually, we only helped the residents to move their belongings, so the restoration of this reservoir could run smoothly. Besides, we have a deadline to finish everything by December,” he said as quoted by beritajakarta.com.

On the other hand, some squatters said they were not aware of the relocation day.

Mira, one of the squatters, said she was not informed of the relocation and was unable to sleep because officers had been stationed at the location all night.

Ruminah, another squatter, also had the same complaint.

“I haven’t slept since last night,” she said.

City Police’s Traffic Management Center (TMC) reported traffic congestion in several locations near the relocation site, including in Kelapa Gading’s West Boulevard heading to Kayu Putih.

At 5:10 a.m., the police only opened the Transjakarta busway lane from Pulogadung to Cempaka Putih in Central Jakarta to accommodate the relocation.

The 26-hectare Ria-Rio reservoir is among the list of re-greening projects in the capital. Jokowi aims to boost the amount of green space in the capital to 30 percent from the current 9 percent.

The revitalization of the reservoir was among the first of the city’s programs to mitigate floods, with another 12 dams and lakes in the pipeline for dredging before the end of the year.

Previously, the city turned the west side of Pluit Dam in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, into a city park. The dam was previously occupied by thousands of squatters.