TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta provincial administration asserted it will maintain the plan to build a hotel as part of the revitalization project of Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) arts and cultural center in Cikini. The four-star hotel will reportedly serve as Wisma TIM or a guesthouse.

A spokesperson for the city contractor PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro), Yeni, said the hotel will feature a library and literary documentation center of H.B. Jassin. “Wisma TIM will be at the eighth to 14th floor with a total of 200 rooms,” said Yeni at TMI, Tuesday, November 26.

Yeni reiterated that the first to the third floor of the hotel will be set as public spaces, art galleries, and retail areas, while the fourth to the sixth floor will feature a regional library, and the seventh floor will be a documentation center of H.B. Jassin.

“Those areas are accessible for the public,” she added.

Apart from Wisma TIM, the city administration planned to open up Wisma Seni, which will be the lodging for artists having performances in the city’s arts center.

Yeni underlined that Wisma Seni will not be commercialized, unlike Wisma TIM.

The economy assistant for the city secretariat, Sri Haryati, mentioned that the hotel construction followed the public demand as it was not included in the initial design of the revitalization project obtained from the contest in 2017.

Jakpro corporate secretary Hani Sumarno, meanwhile, said the hotel construction only takes a small part of the whole revitalization reaching 72,551 meters, given the hotel will only be built on the area of 3,000 meters. “It’s only 4.1 percent of the total lands for the revitalization,” Hani said.

Several arts activists previously voiced their rejection against the hotel construction at Taman Ismail Marzuki arts and cultural center in Central Jakarta. An artist Imam Ma’aruf concerned about the commercialization at the site.

IMAM HAMDI