Waiting For Anies To Complete The Land Acquisition Mission For The Ciliwung Sodetan Project

The Governor of DKI Jakarta Anies Baswedan clears the residual waste from the flood together with residents (Instagram / @ aniesbaswedan)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo summoned DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan to the State Palace, Wednesday, January 9. To Anies, the former governor of DKI Jakarta requested that the land acquisition for the Ciliwung sodetan normalization project be completed immediately.

The sodetan construction project on the Ciliwung River to the East Flood Canal is undertaken by the central government through the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR). Meanwhile, the DKI Provincial Government is in charge of taking care of land acquisition for the houses of affected residents.

The process of normalizing the Ciliwung and Pesanggrahan Rivers began in 2013 and was stalled in 2017. At that time, the problem with Ciliwung's trickery was the disagreement over the value of compensation between residents and the government.

The project, which was targeted for a total length of 33 kilometers, ended up stalling at 16 kilometers due to the Ciliwung sodetan lawsuit. Anies replied, until the end of December 2019, his party had carried out other tasks related to procurement preparations. For example, talking to residents about land acquisition.

This process is stated in the Decree of the Governor of DKI Number 1744 of 2019 concerning the Land Acquisition Preparation Team for the Construction of the Ciliwung River in Bidara Cina Village, Jatinegara District, East Jakarta Administrative City.

"The discussions with the residents have been completed. Now we are starting the appraisal phase," Anies said in Jakarta, January 8.

The appraisal process, in this case, is an assessment of the selling value of the land from the residents' houses to be acquired. For each house affected by land acquisition, a tax object sales value is calculated to determine the amount of the fee to be paid.

"After the appraisal, then the transaction for the land is carried out. With that (land acquisition) is complete. Later, PUPR can immediately make payments, then start working on it," explained Anies.

According to the plan, there will be 118 land plots that will be freed in the cultivation of the Ciliwung river which functions to minimize the impact of flooding on residents' settlements along the Ciliwung River.

Ciliwung's suit

Apart from being related to value, the Ciliwung sodetan project is actually also constrained by a land dispute lawsuit filed by the residents of Bidara Cina. In July 2015, the Central Jakarta District Court won the citizens' lawsuit against Basuki Tjahaja Purnama or Ahok, who was then the Governor of DKI Jakarta.

Ahok appealed. However, he lost for the second time. The legal process continues to appeal to the Supreme Court (MA). Based on the lawsuit documents that were transferred to the Supreme Court, the residents felt they had the right to live because their families had been living in the land since 1950. Then, they admitted that they continued to pay land and building taxes every year.

Ahok offered the residents of Bidara Cina to be moved to the Cipinang Besar Selatan (Cibesel) flat that had been provided. But, they didn't agree. They are only willing to have their land freed on condition that compensation for land per square meter is Rp. 25 million and a building price per square meter of Rp. 3 million.

Regarding compensation, Ahok doesn't agree. According to him, only residents who received compensation had a certificate of ownership rights (SHM). He made sure that residents in Bidara Cina did not have SHM. However, the appeal filed by Ahok did not continue because of the change in the election for the Governor of DKI. In the aftermath, Ciliwung's sodetan work was stalled again.

Since Anies took office, PUPR has asked Anies to continue this land acquisition process. Finally, Ahok chose the decision to withdraw the cassation.

"(The problem is) However, yesterday (there was) a lawsuit. I decided not to appeal, so that it could be executed quickly. Then I asked the PUPR Ministry to also withdraw the appeal. We accept the court's decision, then we discuss it with the residents to implemented, "concluded Anies.