An article by Berlian Wangge, The Jakarta Post.

Efforts by several property developers are underway to include green aspects into their projects.

The increasing scarcity of land in densely populated Jakarta has prompted several property developers to build luxury apartments outside the city to meet the growing demand for housing, including from expatriates.

The residential property projects are constructed in areas with market potential, even though the developers must make extra efforts to make the buildings attractive to prospective customers, including meeting people’s desires for green living.

PT Menara Pelangi, a subsidiary of Mustika Land Development, for example, is building a luxury apartment in Cikarang, which is known as an industrial city.

“We think Cikarang has a unique market. There’s a lot of industrial companies from abroad with expatriate employees. Last year, data showed us there were at least 10,000 of them. So there’s a lot of demand [for housing],“ explained chief executive David Sudjana.

“That encouraged us to build a serviced apartment, because we think expats don’t want to be worried about looking for maids or be concerned about the safety of their apartments when they have to leave for their home countries for a while. Therefore, we wanted to create a residence with excellent facilities.”

“We were thinking about what Cikarang needed. Cikarang is associated with terms like “industry”, or “heat”, but we wanted to make something that was the complete opposite. We realized it might cost more money that way, but we felt it was exactly what the market needed.”

These facilities include a resort-style swimming pool, sun deck, hydrotherapy pool, thematic garden, sky garden and gym, to name a few. A golf course can be found just across the street. Including as many green features as it can is a way for the Mustika Golf Residence to “not make residents feel like they live inside a concrete forest,” David said.

“Above all things, we wanted to create something unique,” explained David, when asked why the company had chosen the resort theme for its very first apartment.

When it comes to the apartment’s eco-friendly initiatives, David admitted that, while his company was a member of Green Building Council Indonesia (GBCI), it had not registered Mustika Golf Residence for green building certification. Still, it was trying to be aware of the environment as much as possible.

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