There Are 10 Old City Buildings In Semarang The Owners Are Not Yet Known

Semarang Mayor Hevearita Gunaryanti Rahayu. (ANTARA/Zuhdiar Laiis)

SemarANG - Mayor of Semarang Hevearita Gunaryanti Rahayu said there are still 10 cultural heritage buildings in the Old City area that the owner has yet to find out.

"Indeed, we have difficulty finding the building owner because if we want to do a letter, there are some who do not have a master and do not know who the owner is," said Ita, Hevearita's nickname in Semarang as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, January 24.

According to him, cultural heritage buildings in the Old City area must continue to be maintained and revitalized so that they are not damaged and collapsed, such as the Butterworth Building which has just collapsed.

Ita encourages the owner of the cultural heritage building to revitalize his assets, but so far there have been several buildings whose owners are not yet known, and some are still in the dispute process.

He explained that cultural heritage buildings in Kota Lama are owned by the government, including state-owned enterprises (BUMN), some are owned by private companies, and some are privately owned.

Efforts to organize and clean up the Semarang Old Town environment, he said, have actually been carried out by the Semarang City Government, but cannot carry out cleaning inside the building considering that it is not a city government asset.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Semarang City Culture and Tourism Office, Wing Wiyarso, confirmed that so far it was difficult to find building owners in the Old City area, including the Butterworth building which had just collapsed.

"Many building owners are not in Semarang, making it difficult to contact him. Luckily we managed to get his number (owner of the Butterworth Building), and immediately asked to save the rest of the collapsed buildings," he said.

According to him, the former building of the spice export activity center is thought to have collapsed due to a lot of damage with age and a lack of good care from the owner.

Currently, he said, Disbudpar, the Old City Area Management Agency (BP2KL), the Cultural Conservation Team, the Environment Service, and the Public Works Service have secured the remaining collapsed building materials.

"These charms and frames have authentic values and cannot be reproduced so they need to be preserved. People who are trusted by the building owners are also present. So, we ask to secure the rest of the building so that it does not collapse again," he added.

Currently, said Wing, Disbudpar continues to monitor several buildings in the Old City area that have not met their owners and are not being treated to anticipate that similar incidents will not happen the umpteenth time.