Jakartass Home thoughts from abroad. Alien thoughts from home.

Whilst sitting in a traffic jam on a toll road heading out of Jakarta, I spotted this catchy phrase on a giant hoarding. It was put there by a real estate company plugging a new housing development being built in one of the ever-expanding townships which surround Jakarta where fields and trees used to be.

Yep, the real estate sector is trying to convince us that in plonking bricks and mortar where nature previously had a relatively free rein (reign?) that they have the best interests of the planet at heart. They are going green – whoopee.

What they have demonstrated in those four words, however, is that the only 'green' they exhibit is their naivety. After all, nature is life.

The International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) held a congress in Bali last month and its theme was “Save The World: Green Shoots for Sustainable Real Estate." Ciputra, a past president of FIABCI (and the 8th richest man in Indonesia) welcomed delegates on the official website with these stirring words:

Real estate industry is one of the most dynamic industries in Indonesia and I have had tremendous privilege to take part in its development since the very beginning back in the early '60s. The needs of comfortable places for living and working evolve with the time. I have seen such times, particularly when this industry flourished. Yet, sadly, I witnessed the downfall of the industry in the late '90s. The economic crisis that hit Asia in 1998 shows how fragile humans are, and how important it is to maintain sustainability in the financial sector and in the spirit of innovation.

Achieving balance between continuous development and environmental protection is also the main issue, and this really warms my heart to see how the majority of people on this planet, including the thinkers and professionals in real estate industry, get together confronting the issue.

Taken from the Ciputra Development website, which doesn't appear to have the platitudinous words 'green', 'sustainable' or 'environment' anywhere, this is a list of his real estate developments within Jakarta and commuter range: Jakarta – CitraGarden City, Ciputra Mall & Hotel, Somerset Grand Citra, Ciputra World, and Bogor – CitraIndah, and Tangerang – CitraRaya. There are also major developments in Surabaya, Sidoarjo, Semarang, South Sumatra and Kalimantan.

The Company's and its subsidiaries are to engaged in development and sale of real estate, especially in large scale integrated projects combining housing, commercial and recreational centers and mixed-use developments including hotel, shopping and office complexes.

We have big land bank located in strategic and high growth urban area for future utilization.

Speaking at the opening of FIABCI, Vice President Boediono called for the central and local governments to adopt a more “rational” approach while developing a grand strategy for urban planning, especially in housing.

Boediono said such an approach was needed to mitigate the undesirable effects of the rapid urbanization resulting from surging economic development.

“We often feel and see that the growth of housing in Indonesia has no clear and rational design. Numbers-wise, the growing demand is being met, but it is growth without rational design.”

A report issued in March by the World Resource Institute (WRI) and HSBC, assesses the financial risks faced by commercial real estates in Indonesia, India, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam due to energy insecurity, water scarcity and climate change.

Key Points

• Emerging energy insecurity, water scarcity, and climate change trends in South and Southeast Asia will affect the risk and return associated with investments in (1) commercial building projects and (2) companies involved in commercial real estate development and investing.
• The focus countries’ limited energy and water infrastructure; rapidly growing demand for energy and water resources; and physical exposure and vulnerability to climate change impacts, all increase the likelihood and magnitude of financial impacts.
• Green building investments can minimize energy and water-related risks while achieving net positive returns in as few as three years.

Can we expect the real estate sector to offer real solutions? Or, as usual, are we going to get piecemeal, bandaid tokenism?

With a great fanfare, a couple of weeks ago we were told that the construction of the first office building designed with environmentally friendly green concept started in the Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) satellite city, South Tangerang.

PT BSD president Harry Budi Hartanto explained that the building, which is (being) built on a 2.5-hectare plot of land brings forward a concept that focuses on saving energy and water because it uses echo (sic) friendly building materials that can also improve air circulation quality to give healthy effect to the people inside it.

Nothing about micro sewage plants or local power plants.

The chairman of the West Java branch of the Indonesian Real Estate Developers Association (REI), Hari Raharta Sudrajat, said that full adoption of the green building concept remained hard due to various factors.

Hari said almost of all of the 100 housing developers in Banding took environmental issues into account when planning and managing housing estates but "there are very few who really implement green designs.”

The main objective of the Mega Cities Project in Jakarta has been to assist the private and public sectors in improving urban management toward sustainable development by strengthening and empowering community participation. With … many qualitative and quantitative problems, Jakarta needs better urban management that is based on an urban ecology approach.

And hopefully, as advocated by VP Boediono, a rational one too.

It is well known that Jakarta is sinking due to water extraction and pressure from high-rise buildings in the city. Particularly prone to subsidence is the north coastline which has relatively young and porous soil beneath.

Is it rational to reclaim 2,700 hectares and build luxury houses, hotels, condominiums, an industrial zone, a port, business centers, massive shopping malls, offices and recreational areas?

The Supreme Court has ruled the project to be illegal but City Hall has sided with the developers.

Made Suarjaya, the head of the law dispute division at the city’s legal bureau, said last Friday that the city gave its full support because the six developers cooperated with the Management Body (BP) Pantura, a body established by the city to manage the North Coast development.

The six companies worry that they will suffer financial losses. And presumably the bureaucrats worry that they will lose their 'commissions'.

There is a small measure of rationality displayed here.

And a great deal of immorality.