'Certification to be sped up'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration said in a recent interview it is looking to speed up the certifying process for all of its property assets to avoid further land disputes with residents.

"We will persuade the City Council to budget for it," city secretary Ritola Tasmaya said Friday. He said many of the city's assets had been lost due to the lack of legal papers for ownership rights.

The former site of West Jakarta mayoralty in Grogol, for example, was given to the Sawergading Foundation after West Jakarta State Court ruled in its favor for ownership of the 11,765 square-meter block last July.

Ritola said if land purchase procedures, including ownership certification requirements and location, were clearer, people would not have legal grounds for land disputes with the administration.

He said the administration had used girik (temporary deeds of ownership) while waiting for certification.

"We have letters required for certification, but it costs money," he said, adding that the Equipment Bureau only processed 100 certificates a year. "It means it will take 30 years to process 3,000 certificates.

We can speed up the process if we have more money," he said.

Head of the Equipment Bureau, Riyanto, said he had discussed the problem with the City Council and the governor had agreed to speed things up.

"Of 19,000,000 city assets, consisting of buildings and plots of land in 44 districts, only around 3,000 have certificates.

The administration can't finish the certification quickly because of its limited budget," Riyanto said, as quoted by city official newsportal Berita Jakarta. (tif)