Indonesia Property Needs Legal Assurance

KOMPAS.com - Kompas.com's Property Talk this time features Hendro Gondokusumo, the founder of Intiland and chairman of the Jakarta Property Club.

Mr. Hendro is optimistic that 2010 will be good for the property industry, because Indonesia has the cheapest properties compared with other Asian countries. But he also gave a word of caution because, "We are still behind compared to countries like Malaysia and Thailand."

He believes that to catch up, the first thing we need to straighten out in Indonesia's property industry is regarding certificates, or more specifically the period of property rights. The government once agreed to 70 years for property rights, and had even said 90 years, but a more definite assurance is needed.

The second thing to set in order would be the law on foreign ownership. He sees this as an opportunity to open up new jobs and to attract foreigners to spend money or even invest in Indonesia. He urges the government to regulate a standard minimum value of property that can be purchased by foreigners.

Besides those two legal aspects Kompas.com also asked Mr. Hendro to give his opinion about the green property trend. He agrees that green property is now critical to save the environment, and he is happy that Indonesia is starting to apply these principles.

"I hear Grand Indonesia has applied green property. I commend them."

However he stated that, "The green issue is not just about the materials, goods, and such things. Mass transportation is also important." It's only logical that the less dependant a society is to personal cars, the less parking space needed, and the best solution for this is to provide people with good mass transportation, and this is an infrastructure issue. In some countries, even the banks would support the green-property movement by giving a lighter interest on green projects.

From this brief interview, Kompas.com observes that the Indonesian property still has to integrate many aspects. The law and infrastructure could be just the tip of the iceberg. (Robert Adhi Ksp/C17-09)