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Jakarta. The Jakarta administration is being sued for suspending developer Ariobimo’s permit to build on state-owned land it leased out in Taman Ria Senayan.

Hari Sasongko Kushadi, who heads Jakarta’s Building Monitoring and Control Office, said on Wednesday that the State Administrative Court had informed him of the lawsuit.

The court’s official Web site shows that the suit was filed directly against Hari. “It is based on the license suspension. They are not happy,” he said. 

In July, Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo  ordered the sealing of Taman Ria Senayan, a sprawling plot of state land next to the legislative complex, following intense pressure from lawmakers who insisted the space be turned into an open space.

Under a contract signed in 2008, the State Secretariat leased  the 10.5-hectare site for 25 years to property developer Ariobimo Laguna Perkasa, beginning this year.

Ariobimo has said it was planning to develop a mall on the site that would be operated by the Lippo Group, with which the Jakarta Globe is affiliated.

Information from the city’s Spatial Planning Office shows that Ariobimo was planning to build seven buildings on the site, occupying 10 percent of the land.

Hari acknowledged that Ariobimo had complied with all the procedural requirements. “But we sealed the site because there were objections from the House of Representatives,” he said.

“Based on the 1991 bylaw on buildings in Jakarta, we can suspend a permit if there are objections.” 

Ariobimo representatives could not be reached for comment on Wednesday. Jakarta is facing a number of problems related to its management of state-owned land within the capital.

On Tuesday night, House lawmakers from a special committee investigating problematic state assets had to break up a heated meeting with businesswoman Siti Hartati Murdaya, the majority owner of Jakarta International Expo.

JI Expo, in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, has been hosting and running the annual Jakarta Fair since 2004, but it has been accused of monopolistic practices.

Lawmakers summoned Hartati to clarify the accusations. Committee chairman Chairuman Harahap said they had been questioning her about the transfer of ownership of the land from the state to her.

But in the middle of the meeting, Hartati became involved in a heated debate with Akbar Faisal, a lawmaker from the People’s Conscience Party.

“She refused to apologize, and some lawmakers decided to walk out of the meeting room. We had to cancel the meeting,” Chairuman said.

The committee has been investigating 44 troubled build-operate-transfer contracts on government land, and claims a “mafia group” is trying to seize assets in the Gelora Bung Karno and Kemayoran complexes in Jakarta.