Jakarta failing to ascertain significance of heritage buildings

Heritage buildings are regarded as part and parcel or an essential part of a city life and for that reason they are conserved throughout the world. However, the situation in Jakarta is strikingly different where the destruction of a number of heritage buildings has taken place already. What can be the chief reason behind this bizarre incident? According to the discretions of experts, both investors and the public have failed to ascertain the significance of conservation and essential of heritage buildings in a city. It should be noted that Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and has a greater population than any other city in Southeast Asia.

This situation has been aptly described by a number of organizations and one of them happens to be the Bambang Eryudhawan. It is the city administration’s independent review team for cultural heritage building restoration that told The Jakarta Post, “Buying an old building in Jakarta is more like a burden, while abroad heritage buildings are regarded as diamonds.” “Here, buildings aren’t valued as much as the land on which they stand.” “People living in heritage areas like Menteng are burdened with the highest land and building taxes, which amounted some Rp 71 million per year for an 800 to 1,000 square meter property,” it added.

On the other hand, as stated by the data of the city tourism and culture agency, there is the rich presence of close to 273 heritage buildings in the region of Jakarta and the most important happens to be the areas like Menteng, Kota, Condet and Kebayoran. An identical view appeared from Arya Abieta of the Indonesian Architectural Documentation Center as well, that said, “home owners, who are unable to pay such high taxes will sell the property to newcomers, who are less attached to the history of the property. They often demolish the historic buildings and rebuild something completely different.”