JAKARTA: Provincial Government of Jakarta plans to suspend giving permission for new shopping centers until the end of next year, considering that the number of such buildings is too high but their occupancy rate is low.The policy on moratorium of giving permission to shopping center construction with acreage more than 5,000 square meters is based on the suggestion from developers in Jakarta. The step is taken, as many spaces in existing shopping centers remain vacant.In a near time, we will announce a moratorium of giving permission for new malls and shopping centers until end of 2012. It means that during the moratorium there will be no new permission, Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo said in Jakarta yesterday.There are currently 68 malls and shopping centers in five regions of Jakarta and all of them have not been fully occupied.The potential growth of malls and shopping centers in Jakarta is 5% to 10% from the existing number, according to Chairperson of Association of Indonesian Shopping Centers Handaka Santosa.Handaka expected that after the temporary disallowance of shopping center construction, the business would grow stronger.There are indeed some unoccupied malls and shopping centers. Provided the moratorium ended in 2012, the empty spaces will be filled, he said.Short termHandaka said that the moratorium is not for a long term since it may hamper the growth of economy in Jakarta, which is growing by 6.5% a year.There are three malls and shopping centers whose constructions are scheduled to finish this year, said Ferry Salanto, manager of research division at Colliers International. Those malls are Kuningan City, Area 51, and Green Tebet.In the meantime, total retail spaces available in January- March this year reached 3.93 million square mete. In Jakarta, about 89,000 square meter is for shopping centers this year, he added.However, the massive construction of malls and shopping centers contributes to the traffic congestion in the capital city, said Dharmaningtyas, Executive Director at Institute of Transportation Studies.The construction of property is not synchronized with the improvement of transportation mod and its infrastructure, he said. (t04/msw)

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