Jakarta. The Central Jakarta District Court has ruled in favor of the government in the long-running land dispute over the Sultan Hotel complex, ordering Indobuildco — the developer and operator of the iconic property — to vacate the site, a court spokesperson said on Monday.

The Sultan Hotel occupies a prime location in Senayan, Indonesia’s largest integrated sports and events complex, adjacent to the national parliament building.

On Friday, the court rejected Indobuildco’s lawsuit against the government and upheld an earlier ruling stating that the land-use rights (HGB) for the Sultan Hotel expired in 2023 and therefore the premises must be vacated, court spokesperson Sunoto said.

He underlined that the eviction order remains enforceable even if Indobuildco files an appeal.

“This ruling is immediately executable, meaning it can be enforced even if the losing party submits an appeal,” Sunoto told reporters in Jakarta.

The judges also ordered Indobuildco to pay US$45.4 million in land-use royalties for the period 2007–2023, payable in rupiah using Bank Indonesia’s median exchange rate at the time of settlement, Sunoto added.

Execution of the eviction will proceed once the victorious parties submit a formal request. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit were the State Secretary, the Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning Minister, the Finance Minister, and the Central Jakarta Land Office.

Sunoto explained that an application for eviction enforcement must be filed with the Jakarta High Court, which will determine whether execution should proceed or be postponed.

In its ruling on Friday, the court declared that the Sultan Hotel’s land-use rights had expired in 2023, confirmed the state’s authority to reclaim the asset, ordered Indobuildco to vacate the entire hotel area, and ruled that the company has had no legal right to occupy the land since 2023. The judges also found Indobuildco guilty of failing to pay royalties for 16 years.

Earlier this month, Agrarian Affairs Minister Nusron Wahid asserted that the Sultan Hotel has been operating illegally since 2023 because the land-use concession was not renewed.

Indobuildco was first granted concession rights to develop part of Senayan in 1971 for 30 years, later extended in 2002 for an additional 20 years. The Sultan Hotel — now with more than 1,100 rooms — opened in 1976 under the name Hotel Hilton, before rebranding as the Sultan Hotel three decades later under the Singgasana Group. The company also developed residential units in the same area.

The government initiated efforts in early 2023 to reclaim the land after Indobuildco’s concession expired and was not extended. Those efforts triggered Indobuildco’s lawsuit, which the court has now definitively rejected.

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