Joko Wants Solar Panels for Jakarta Low-Cost Apartments

Jakarta Globe, SP/Deti Mega P. on 5:06 pm October 8, 2013

People walk across a yard inside the Pinus Elok low-cost apartment
complex in East Jakarta on Sept. 30, 2013. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo said on Tuesday that he wanted to install solar panels on the 100 low-cost apartment towers that his administration planned to construct next year.

“I think we need to apply an environmentally friendly concept for next year’s low-cost apartment construction,” Joko said on the sidelines of a visit to electronics manufacturer Panasonic Gobel’s plant in East Jakarta. “So solar panels should be installed on all the low-cost apartments that will be built next year.”

Joko said he was aware that solar panels would boost the upfront construction cost, but emphasized the savings that would be made over the longer term.

Yonathan Pasodung, the head of Jakarta Housing and Building Agency, said last month the Jakarta administration was ready to build 100 low-cost apartment towers next year in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Housing.

Each tower would consist of six floors and was planned to host 100 apartment units, with construction cost set at between Rp 20 billion ($1.7 million) and Rp 22 billion per tower.

The towers will be built across five Jakarta municipalities and offered for rent at Rp 150,000 per month per unit to low-income residents.

“That will include those displaced by [Jakarta's] river normalization project,” Yonathan said, according to Indonesian news portal tempo.co.

He added the towers would use precast concrete to make them more resistant to earthquakes.