TOWARDS A SLUM-FREE INDONESIA BY 2019 by Fardah

 Jakarta, Nov 19, 2016 (Antara) - Indonesia has around 137 million urban dwellers who make up 53.7 percent of the total population.  By 2025, an estimated 68 percent of Indonesians will be living in cities.  
   Slums claim 23 thousand hectares of land in Indonesia, according to data from the Public Works and Public Housing Works Ministry.

        About 29 million Indonesians live in slums with poor basic services with 11 million lacking access to sanitation and 9 million lacking access to safe water. Indonesia's urban poor pay 10 to 30 times more to buy clean water from private providers, compared to the better off families with access to water utilities.

        The government, in line with the Law No. 17 of 2007 regarding National Long-Term Development Plan 2005-2025, has set a target of achieving a "city without slums" by 2020.

        The current government under the leadership of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), however, has intensified work to improve living conditions in slum areas in order to achieve a "slum free" status by 2019.

        Jokowi, in fact, has made poverty alleviation program one of his administration's key development efforts.

        Nine cities have been chosen for the first stage of the slum free program, according to the Ministry of National Development Planning.

        The cities are Banjarmasin, East Kalimantan; Pekalongan and Semarang in Central Java; Surabaya and Malang, East Java; Tangerang, Banten; Makassar, South Sulawesi; Palembang in South Sumatra; and the city of Yogyakarta.

        The Public Works and Public Housing Ministry recently announced that it allocated Rp10 trillion for the improvement of slum areas in 269 cities and districts across Indonesia.

        In addition to the funds from the ministry, every city and district should also allocate additional funds for the development of slum areas, Sri Hartoyo, construction director general of the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry, said in Yogyakarta, recently.

        Public Works and Public Housing Minister Mochamad Basoeki Hadimoeljono noted that the development of slum areas must involve surrounding communities.

        The government has intensified a program of slum-free cities (Kotaku) that prioritizes the participation of local communities, he remarked.    
   The National Slum Upgrading Program (Kotaku) is a national collaborative platform financed by multiple sources, including central and local governments, the private sector, communities, as well as multi-lateral development banks.

        "The activities in Karangwaru Riverside are an example of the community-based development programs in slum areas," the minister underlined while visiting the Karangwaru Riverside neighborhood in Yogyakarta.

        Coordinating Minister for Human and Cultural Development Puan Maharani lauded the slum alleviation development programs in Karangwaru Riverside.

        "The roads, environment, houses and rivers are all clean and healthy. This should become a model," she emphasized.

        In Yogyakarta, similar development programs have been carried out in Gowongan, Suryatmajan, Ngampilan and Keparakan.

        The development in slum areas is not only focused on physical constructions but also other aspects, such as improving the public awareness about the environment, the minister stressed.

        In the meantime, international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), have been supporting the development programs in Indonesian slum areas.

        In July 2016, the World Bank's Board of Executive Directors approved $216.5 million in financing to support the government's Kotaku project that will improve infrastructure in Indonesia's slum areas and benefit more than 9.7 million urban poor across the country.

        The Kotaku program is also supported by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which is co-financing it with an additional $216.5 million, making it the first project jointly co-financed by the AIIB and the World Bank.

        "Addressing gaps in infrastructure and basic services in urban slums is critical to ending extreme poverty, reducing inequality and boosting the goal of shared prosperity in Indonesia. The Slum Upgrading project will improve the lives of millions of Indonesia's urban poor and support the country in realizing its potential for higher growth," said World Bank Country Director for Indonesia, Rodrigo Chaves.

        "We commend the Government of Indonesia for establishing this national platform, which will pave the way for all stakeholders to collaborate effectively," he added.

        The Government of Indonesia is providing the bulk of the financing at around $1.3 billion. The five-year program is also supported with parallel financing by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
   Earlier this year, Indonesia and the IDB signed a member country partnership strategy (MCPS) 2016-2020, under which US$365 million are to be given for slum area improvement, $350 million for electricity transmission and $176.5 million for the improvement of four universities and Islamic higher education facilities.

        "The IDB Group will support Indonesian infrastructure development. The MCPS 2016-2020 will focus on social and physical infrastructure," Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro had pointed out on the sidelines of an IDB Group annual meeting at the Jakarta Convention Center in May 2016.

        IDB Group president Ahmad Mohamed Ali stated that the bank was committed to supporting the government in dealing with challenges in infrastructure, poverty alleviation and capacity building. ***4***
(F001/INE/B003)