Posted on : The Jakarta Post, 24 March 2018
HARIZUL AKBAR NAZWAR, B.Eng., M.Ec.Dev., MAPPI (Cert.)
(Certified Property Valuer & Real Estate Analyst at Amin, Nirwan, Alfiantori & Partners Valuation Firm)
According to a report from the United Nations, the world population growth is expected to touch 6.3 billion in 2030, of which 94% of the figure is contributed by developing countries including Indonesia. While there is an estimation of about 828 million people in developing countries will live in slums and live in homes that are unfit for habitation. This indicates that there are still many people who do not have the ability to have a decent and affordable home. Therefore, it becomes a logical consequence for our country, to control the problem of housing needs with an appropriate and effective approach. One of the solutions used in the context of housing needs is the procurement of affordable housing.
Affordable housing in the simplest sense is houses that built for a particular community when the community is experiencing economic difficulties (purchasing power) to buy a home with a reasonable market price. Settlements in a region tend to continue to grow in line with the growing number of people. As a logical consequence, the number of people to be accommodated in an area is also getting bigger. On the other hand, the amount of land supply is not possible to increase. This means there is a market incompatibility in the property market where the supply of land continues to decrease, while demand continues to increase. Therefore, the development of housing is encouraged to vertical housing.
In accordance with the development of infrastructure and transport network, the concept of housing development should be suitable with urban development. In this context, DKI Jakarta as the capital city of the country has undertaken the construction of mass transportation facilities such as the Commuter Line, Mass Rapid Transit and Light Rapid Transit. In accordance with the development of these means of transportation, new ideas emerge on housing developments that adopts the concept of Transit Oriented Development (TOD). TOD is a concept of a residential area development oriented on the effectiveness and efficiency of human movement through transportation means and emphasizes on improving the quality of life of the community around the neighborhood. In addition to transit-oriented close to the transport nodes, TOD’s development features are high-density, multi-activity (mixed use) and environment friendly. TOD was first introduced by an American urban designer named Peter Calhtorpe in the 1980s. Calthorpe publicized the TOD concept as a spatial planning under the name of The New American Metropolis in 1993.
TOD aims to create a community environment that reduces dependency on private vehicles and encourages the use of public transportation through promotion of accessibility and good mobility from one transit point to another (between stations, terminals and bus stops). In the context of housing needs, TOD-based vertical housing/apartment is expected to be the answer not only for the needs of affordable and livable houses, but also to help the movement and mobility of the people to a more effective and efficient way as a result of close distance radius to the mass transportation nodes.
Development of TOD-based vertical housing is prioritized to be built around Jabodetabek’s buffer zone. This action is necessary because the transportation costs of people living in buffer zones tend to be higher, considering the inefficient travel route that commuters have to pass to reach Jakarta due to increasingly severe road congestions. Until now, there are several TOD projects that will be finished in the near future by Perumnas. The project is located around Bogor Station, Tanjung Barat and Pondok Cina with the number reaches 5.000 units and continues to grow in other stations. When juxtaposed with the number of commuter line users which has reached 1,024,000 people per day, the development of TOD-based shelter has become a very relevant development especially if the government is serious in encouraging the people to continue the use of mass transportation facilities in a sustainable manner.
I believe TOD-based residential development is a solution that can be effective in addressing the problem of housing needs for the community as well as a solution in suppressing the use of private vehicles. Not only that, the development of better mass-oriented transportation and infrastructure indicates that the way of the development of big cities in Indonesia, particularly around Jabodetabek, will be more modern and sustainable. The classic problems of congestion and urban clutter can gradually be overcome. If congestion can be solved, then derived problems from congestion such as environmental pollution, energy and economic waste, and the high social cost can also be minimized.
Based on data released by Global Property Guide, it is known that the price to income ratio of housing in Indonesia has reached a very high figure of 80.16x. This figure shows that the house price per meter in Indonesia is about 80 times the income per capita of the Indonesian society. This figure is much different than Singapore which has a price to income ratio of 25x and Malaysia amounted to 36x. The data proves that people’s purchasing power of the house in Indonesia is still very low. With the many benefits offered by TOD-based housing, it is very possible that the price of the TOD-based property market will increase drastically. Therefore, it is important to be able to control the price of TOD-based housing markets in order to stay on target, which is intended for middle-income people and also for first-home buyers. Not only that, TOD-based housing should also be banned for resale within a certain period of time in order to keep market prices controlled. Therefore TOD-based housing should not be viewed as a property investment instrument, but purely as the primary needs of the people as a place to live.