Illegal Buildings Rampant Along Jalan Inspeksi KBB

Although has been controlled many times, illegal buildings are rampant again along Jalan Inspeksi West Flood Canal (KBB), Jelambar Baru Urban Village, Grogol Petamburan Sub-District, West Jakarta. Besides making the area looks slum, those buildings are also causing traffic congestion, particularly during rush hours in the morning and afternoon, due to there are many pick-up cars parked haphazardly.

Me and my friends can live here for a long time because we routinely pay illegal fees collected every month by unscrupulous local urban village officials

Based on beritajakarta.com observations, there are about 30 semi-permanent illegal buildings as wide as approximately three meters and as long as five meters packed the 500-meter long road. Those buildings are used as shops to sell timber from building demolition, plywood, bamboo, et cetera, as well as residence.

Sukri Khaerudin (50), one of the squatters, admitted has lived there since four years ago. This father of two from Pemalang, Central Java, said he deliberately lives there because he was having trouble to find a decent place to live in Jakarta. Moreover, he and other squatters never get warning for living there.

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“Me and my friends can live here for a long time because we routinely pay illegal fees collected every month by unscrupulous local urban village officials,” he disclosed, Thursday (7/17).

Similar statement is also conveyed by Yanto Taslam (48), a used-timber collector who has been living on Jalan Inspeksi KBB for four years. He acknowledged that indeed true there are local authorities collecting fees to the squatters.

“I don’t know who those officials are. All I know is I have to pay Rp 100 thousand every month,” he told.

Responding this matter, Head of Grogol Petamburan Sub-District, Denny Ramdany, explained that one of the difficulties to control those squatters is boundary problem. Jalan Inspeksi KBB is categorized as grey area because of the existence of an empty land behind the road. The owner to that land is still unknown.

“It could also belong to highway management or the party that runs the West Flood Canal,” he uttered.

About the illegal fees, Ramdany admitted has heard about it. However, when an investigation was done, there were no proofs of it yet.

“But if it was proven, we will certainly act firmly,” he asserted.

Meanwhile, Head of West Jakarta Satpol PP, Kadiman Sitinjak, stated ready to control the area because those illegal buildings have disturbed public order.

“We will control all of those buildings if we got the instruction,” he said.