Jakarta has grown tremendously over the past few decades. It has grown so fast that it has outgrown its government's ability to adjust regulations and update building codes. Permitting processes have been delayed, resulting in losses for investors and potential conflicts due to misunderstandings between permit applicants and government agencies.
For this reason, the Jakarta Property Institute (JPI) will discuss issues surrounding building-related regulations and licensing processes. This is JPI's effort to help stakeholders identify bureaucratic and procedural issues that hinder development.
As a first step, JPI held three focus group discussions (FGD) in April, June, and August 2016. The participants consisted of representatives of several agencies such as the City Planning Agency, DKI Jakarta BPTSP (One Stop Integrated Service Agency), Ministry of Public Works, TABG (Building Expert Team), Indonesian Architect Association (IAI), DKI Jakarta Fire Department, practitioners and experts, and representatives of developers.
From the three discussions, there were two issues that were found to be a problem so far, namely shortcomings in the licensing process and overlapping or conflicting regulations.
Conflicting Regulations
Conflicting regulations are often a problem for developers. One example is related to the Green Basic Coefficient rules listed in Regional Regulation No. 1/2012 on the 2030 Regional Spatial Plan.
This Green Basic Coefficient regulates the percentage of area that must be allocated by developers for green space. However, there is also a regulation from the DKI Jakarta Fire Department that requires tall buildings to provide a wide enough pavement path to accommodate its newest fire engine, the Bronto Skylift. This policy clearly makes it difficult for building owners to provide green space in accordance with the regulations, and also reduces the opportunity for effective land use for businesses.
Ultimately, there are often differences in design execution. These conflicting regulations are also one of the factors holding up the issuance of regulations. To build a new building, developers are required to submit a license application to BPTSP - which was established in 2015 to handle all types of licenses, not just for buildings.
In the event of regulatory conflicts - there generally always are - BPTSP will consider whether or not the design proposed by the developers can be approved. Typically, BPTSP will consult a TABG meeting consisting of experts and architects, after which they will discuss design changes with the developers and BPTSP's technical team.
A further problem is the growing number of building design proposals waiting to be reviewed by BPTSP. In this case the BPTSP technical team still lacks human resources. The last and most important license is the Certificate of Fitness to Function (SLF). There was one particularly severe case where we found it could take 13 years to obtain an SLF. The court process and long queues push back the scheduled time, causing the building to be abandoned and the developer to bear the financial risk.
Drafting Process
When regulation implementation takes center stage, it is argued that the problem is rooted in flaws in the drafting process. There is a distinct difference between what is written in the regulations and what is implemented. Often the written rules do not reflect the reality on the ground.
The City Planning Department, for example, admits that some regulations are made based on their own observations and research and only consulted with TABG. Lack of response from related agencies is common, while the private sector is not involved in discussions on regulations before they come into effect.
The FGDs also found that it is common to just take successful regulations from other countries that have the same problems without adjusting to the conditions in Jakarta. JPI found 2 regulations that were simply copied from other countries: a regulation on building floors (Head of City Planning No.3/2014 article 117) taken from Singapore; and technical requirements on fire department access (Pergub DKI Jakarta No. 200/2015) taken from several countries. As there is no standard regulatory procedure regarding the making of regulations, mistakes are often unavoidable.
Participation from various parties
The system needs comprehensive improvement. Efficient systems and processes will benefit all parties. As a mediator between the private sector and the government, JPI believes in facilitating discussions between each stakeholder and participation from all parties to improve the existing system.
The success of this FGD is believed to bring about change at the government level. With the current regulation on building permits (Pergub 129/2012), BPTSP is proactively inviting developers to provide input on the regulation. At the request of the DKI Jakarta government, JPI is currently working with Singapore's Center of Liveable City (CLC) to provide training for the best technical team from BPTSP, to transfer the system, from a manual system to an online system.