TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Former Jakarta governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, or BTP, commented on the building permit (IMB) issuance by current Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan for the Jakarta Bay reclamation islet.

The former governor explained the reason behind his Governor’s Decree No.206/2016 on the design guides for the Jakarta Bay reclamation islands, which Anies Baswedan used as his legal standing upon issuing the IMB.

BTP maintained that he never used the decree to issue building permits for the hundreds of constructions built on the islet in Jakarta’s north coast. He also underlined the fact that it only happened under Anies’ administration.

“[However] the current governor is a smooth talker [that] the governor’s decree I introduced could be used to issue IMB for the reclamation islet,” said Ahok to Tempo on Wednesday, June 19, 2019.

His statement is not unprovoked as Anies stated he was able to issue building permits for structures on top of the reclaimed islets because of former Jakarta Governor's decree.

According to BTP, he is unable to use Decree 206 as a legal basis to issue permits since it must wait for the results of two regional government draft regulations RZWP3K and RTRKS to be completed by the regional legislative council (DPRD).

The two drafts focus on strategic spatial planning and mentioned that developers are mandated to provide 15 percent of the taxable value of the property (NJOP) to the Jakarta administration from their sales profit.

“I wasn’t able to issue the IMB because there was no Regional Government Regulation (Perda) available that I could use as a legal basis. But now, why can [the IMBs] be issued based on my Decree?” he asked.

Previously reported, the current Jakarta Administration issued building permits for structures built on top of D Islet, which is renamed to Pantai Maju, on November of 2018. This was done after Anies Baswedan officially sealed off 932 buildings in June of 2018.

Anies reasons that the IMB was issued because the developers involved already paid their dues and that the developers are legally allowed to continue the construction because of Ahok’s governor decree No.206.

JULNIS FIRMANSYAH