'Singapore' side by side with 'Bangladesh' in Jakarta: It's fact, Anies says

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan has acknowledged that there is disparity between the capital’s downtown areas and suburbia.

The disparity pointed out by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who said the main thoroughfare Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta, looked like Singapore, as opposed to areas in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, that looked like Bangladesh.

“It isn’t criticism, it’s fact,” he told reporters at City Hall on Monday.

Anies said it reflected how the administration had long been unable to properly arrange spatial planning the city.

“The fact is that we haven’t implemented spatial planning with serious effort, with clear targets. The result is inequality,” he said.

“Jakarta's spatial planning does not take into account the potential impacts, such as disparities,” he added.

The governor mentioned as examples Thamrin City and Grand Indonesia shopping mall in Central Jakarta, which were once settlement areas.

He also pointed out that apartment construction in Jakarta required a plot of land measuring at least 4,000 square meters, which prompted developers to build them in strategic areas.

If the requirement was lowered, he said, apartment buildings could be built everywhere, either for people in the lower-middle or upper-middle income bracket.

Earlier in the day, the Vice President and the governor observed the city’s aerial view together. The Vice President said there seemed to be a gap between the city’s urban and suburban areas.

“In Jakarta, if we are on Jl. Thamrin, it is as though we are in Singapore. But if we are behind [Jl. Thamrin], Tanjung Priok is like Bangladesh,” Kalla said on Monday as quoted by tempo.co. (sau)

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/01/30/singapore-side-by-side-with-bangladesh-in-jakarta-its-fact-anies-says.html