Sita W. Dewi, Jakarta – The City Council on Wednesday endorsed the Spatial Zoning Bylaw, which, to some extent, limits the Jakarta governor from making changes to land-use purposes.

"Previous regulation allowed the governor to change land-use purposes as developers were only required to secure a gubernatorial decree. The new spatial bylaw is complete with a zoning map that will regulate land use so the Jakarta governor and other city officials can only issue permits in line with the bylaw," Jakarta Spatial Planning Agency head Gamal Sinurat said after attending the city' plenary session to endorse the draft bylaw on Wednesday.

He added that violators of the bylaw would be subject to criminal charges. "Both the person who applies for and the person who grants the permit can be punished," he said.

Gamal said that the new spatial bylaw would also regulate the types of activities allowed in the designated areas. "Let say an area is a commercial area, then the bylaw further regulates what kind of commercial activities can be conducted – be it restaurant or shopping mall, etc.," he said.

The bylaw also reclassified a number of areas, such as Kemang in South Jakarta, once a housing area that is now a commercial zone.

"As for other areas that have seen sporadic changes, the city will control it using gubernatorial decree. The decree also defines a few requirements that should be met if the building owner intends to permanently change its use purpose. If they do not comply, it should be returned to its initial function," he said, adding that private houses that have turned into commercial establishments will be subject to levies.

Each municipality will have several business district areas with West Jakarta and East Jakarta as the primary centers. The bylaw also includes specific locations of apartment, park-and-ride areas and other major projects, such as the Transjakarta, mass rapid transit (MRT) and monorail systems as well as the giant seawall.

The zoning map has colors and codes to show the different land use purposes. Previously, housing areas were marked with just one color – yellow – however, in the new bylaw, yellow shading is used to designate vertical housing. The shaded yellow areas are marked with two different codes for low-cost and luxury apartment buildings.

The detailed zoning is expected to encourage the development of high-rise housing, thereby, ensuring more green space. Acting city secretary Wiryatmoko said that the bylaw would boost the capital's public green spaces by 6 percent, giving the city 16 percent by 2030.

"We expect the private sector to contribute to the development of green spaces up to 14 percent of the capital's total land mass so we will have 30 percent of green space. The bylaw obliges developers to allocate 60 percent of their property to green space," he said.

Trisakti University urban planning expert Yayat Supriyatna, who was involved in the drafting of the bylaw, said he was upbeat that the new bylaw would improve the capital's spatial planning. "Violators – both those who ask for and those who grant the permit – can now be punished as we now have the legal basis," he said.

Even though the city administration would only be obliged to increase the city's green space by 6 percent, he said that was "fine because adding 1 percent is equal to adding green space ten times the size of the Monas [National Monument] compound. It won't be that easy with limited land, not to mention the price," he pointed out.

Yayat also encouraged the city administration to establish a dedicated body tasked with issuing property permits.