Architecture, Building and Planning - Theses
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ItemThe implications of urban land policy towards housing development in Indonesia : Surabaya as a case study( 2002)There have been predictions that urban populations will increase dramatically around the globe, especially in developing countries. Cities become sources of progress, and urban productivity is crucial to national development. In developing countries, especially in Asia, cities often double in size and population within a decade. Despite being engines of socio-economic development, most Asian cities are, unfortunately, also sources of poverty and centres of environmental deterioration. As a consequence of the above facts, land inevitably becomes an important factor, and usually the most critical problem, in urban development. In Indonesian cities the development of land is managed through a system of permits, the first of which is the so-called location permit. The objective of this permit is to ensure that the intended investment is in line with the socio-economic policy of the government. It also gives the holder the right to invest in the property and leads to the right to buy land, wholly or partially, from whoever owns it. In practice, the permit confers a 'monopoly to purchase', and accordingly the permit holder can put pressure on the landowners by offering a very low price for the land that might be impossible for them to accept. In most cases, the permit holders can control the best part of the urban land, while low-income people are pushed to fringe areas. Access to urban land for housing activities by low-income people can thereby be restricted. At the same time the system appears to lead to fragmented, inefficient development and environmental degradation. The objective of this research is to explore alternatives for a land permit system that will be better suited for urban housing development in Indonesia. A case study approach was chosen, and Surabaya was selected as a case study city. There were four types of respondents for this research, namely government officials, staff of Real Estate Indonesia, housing developers and landowners. The research was done through the following steps. First, a desk study was carried out to gain sufficient information about the location permit process. This was used to prepare questionnaires for interview purposes and to identify potential respondents. Second, interviews were done with government officials connected with the location permit system, and with members of the Real Estate Indonesia association. By comparing these interviews, respondents from among the housing developers were selected and interviewed. In selecting the developers, the exact case study areas could be specified and the previous landowners could also be identified. The next interviews were carried out with the previous landowners as respondents. The interview results were then tabulated and analysed, and conclusions were extracted from this analysis. From the analysis it was found that the location permit system itself is not the whole problem. It is closely related to other problems, such as inconsistency in law enforcement, poor management, incompleteness or lack of regulations, ill-paid civil servants, and/or collusion and nepotism. If accountability and transparency were maintained while relevant laws were properly enforced, many of the above problems could be overcome. However, it is clear that the location permit system is so open to abuse that it would be sensible to explore alternatives that would achieve the desired ends without suffering the problems.