22.0 Jakarta Kota a historic center awaiting renewal.

On a recent trip to Jakarta I invited a Jakarta Architect friend who has never tried the Busway to venture out on a Sunday morning to experience the Busway on a trip to Kota, the old Dutch built center of Jakarta. 

Historic Dutch Architecture along Kali Besar

The trip was pleasant and it reminded me of the richness and potential the old parts of Jakarta possesses and left me wondering when the “potential” will finally be realized?

The trip started from Sarinah department store and happened to be on one of the days where Jalan Thamarin is closed in the morning to traffic for jogging and bicycling.  This was an extra treat, the opportunity to walk down the middle of a road normally bumper to bumper with traffic. 

Jakarta Kota with key locations in the historic center

The Busway was filled with young people as most of my recent experiences and they all seem ready for a full day outing of some sort.  The trip took about 25 minutes at the most and we arrived at the Kota Busway Station (1) which is connected to the Kota Train Station (3) via an underground passageway. 

Underground passage from Kota Busway station to Museum Mandiri and the Train Station (1)

Jakarta Kota Train Station (3)

Jakarta Kota Train Station (3)

BNI Building (15) historic post war Modern Architecture

Briefly the sequence of our tour was from the underground passage way we came up on the side of the Kota Station and entered in to the main hall from the south.  After walking through the Station we came out to the north of the station and down the road pass the old historic building (15) straight down Jl Landa into Taman Fatihilla (4).  From there we went into Museum of Ceramics (16) and History Museum and former City Hall (5).  Passed by historic buildings (7 & 8) and had lunch at Café Batavia (8) where you have a prime view of Taman Fatahilla from the second floor dining. 

Ceramic Museum (16)

Taman Fatahilla (4)

Taman Fatahilla Merchant (4)

Jakarta History Museum - Original City Hall (5)

View from Jakarta History Museum (5) to old Dutch Architecture in need of renovation

We walked around the pedestrian streets (former roads now closed to traffic) (7,9 & 11) and passing by the Wayang Museum (10). 

Pedestrian Street off Taman Fatahilla (9)

Traditional food sellers on Taman Fatahilla (4)

Wayang (Puppet) Museum (9)

Then we walked west down the road to the north of the Wayang Museum and arrived at Kali Besar (12) and walked south to Jl Bank and passed the two renovated historic bank buildings (13 & 2) and back to the Busway Station. 

Kali Besar  (12)

Historic Dutch Architecture along Kali Besar (12) would be perfect settings for boutique heritage hotels.

Without seeing all the Museums and not doing much shopping and a short lunch of no more than an hour, I would guess we spent about 4 hours in Kota.  That 4 hours was more than enough to refresh my memory of the potential this historic part of Jakarta has for redevelopment, heritage conservation and tourism. 

 So how should this development be done?  Without knowing anything about the legal and political structure of the vicinity, let me share some ideas based on the physical location and what from a “gut feel” seems to be workable. 

The existing location is attractive so what else is needed for it to reach its full potential?

Population -  Access

Kota is notorious for traffic jams so who would want to go to an area that’s only known for traffic jams?  Of course the answers are quite obvious:

1.   Improve public transport to and from the location.

2.  Most of the older well off Indonesians who drive would never take public transport no matter how it improves, but the young and coming generations we see are all accustom to it.

3.  Have a variety of hotels directly in the area so all the sights are within walking distance and then public transport can be used to connect to outside areas.

4.  Have residential development integrated with some of the redevelopments so this becomes a living community.  All the necessary support facilities also need to be put in place. 

Product

1.   My latest trip tells me that there is sufficient potential to make the Kota district a full day tour for Jakarta visitors but likewise it can also be such that a “taste” of it can be experienced in a couple of hours over a business dinner.

2.  Accommodations in the area would be one essential component and would be a unique heritage experience to stay in one of the historic building filled with local artifacts of the time.

3.  Accommodations should also cater to the local market of more budget hotels to cater to the domestic tourists that should arrive by train and get to experience the historic center and not be limited to visiting new shopping malls as the Jakarta experience.   

4.  F&B will definitely make up a large mix of the products facing Taman Fatahilla where al fresco dining in the evening should be the norm and open into the late hours where traffic would be reduced. Ambience and variety will create a regular crowd patronizing various outlets.

5.  Small boutiques with local crafts, fashions, batik, unique locally made and designed products should be intermixed with the F&B for impulse shopping, especially for tourists.

6.  Within and around Taman Fatahilla, hawkers selling traditional foods, baso, mee goreng, ice desserts, etc should be included to give atmosphere, bring to life the traditional foods and provide economical alternatives.

7.  Services required to a vibrant tourist market need to exist, money changers, convenience sundry shop, post office, police post, clinic, travel agent and tourist information office, etc.

8.  Kali Besar, the area along the river, there are lots of historic Dutch Architecture, would be an ideal belt for small boutique accommodations or living mixed in with restaurants. 

9.  Of course the river needs to be cleaned up just as it has been done near the Epicentrum in Kuningan. The river can be a focal point, recreation hub for residents in the area.  Some study needs to be done on how strategic sites along the river can be turned into or connected to higher density residential.  This is needed to give constant life to the district but also for financial incentive to the developers.

Management

The management of the district will be of prime importance. 

1.  Safety and security should be top of the list.  Without safety and security, any investment will yield no return. 

2.  Cleanliness and sanitation including a sufficient amount of properly maintained public toilets is essential.  Good hygiene in all F&B outlets is essential and proper management, meaning collection and storage of solid waste should be well managed to avoid vermin infestation.

3.  Drainage and sewerage needs to be address properly to avoid mosquito breeding and other water borne disease.

4.  Marketing and running of events is necessary to keep the Kota District vibrant year round and always remaking itself so local repeat visitors will be common.   

Investment

The real question is physically all these improvements seem viable, but how can this work financially?  Certainly some kind of integrated masterplanning and development approach would lead to the most viable options, but without doing all this, there seems to be initially a few options.

1.  Central Body / Company given complete rights for X years on a Build Operate Transfer back to the Government contract.

2.  Government establish a company to develop and operate or sell after developed.

3.  Government join with a private developer or adviser to master plan the whole Kota.  From this decide how to strategically divide out into smaller parts and tender/source individual developers who will develop according to guidelines reviewed by an independent panel.

Option 3 at a glance seems like the most suitable process having the government along with the appropriate advisers or strategic partner investor to take the lead to set the direction and the bring in the private developers to execute.  In this case it is important to bring in a mix of developers and hopefully the best of all of Indonesia as well as from the region. 

The City and people of Jakarta as well as all of Indonesia deserve to have the historic center renewed for everyone to appreciate and enjoy.

Jiwa Studio
Singapore, March 2012