INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT COMMITTED TO PROVIDING AFFORDABLE HOUSING by Fardah

Jakarta, April 28, 2017 (Antara) - Houses are a basic public necessity that must be met, both for people from the high- and  low-income groups.

         To ensure fair and balanced opportunities for people to own proper houses, the Indonesian government will continue to subsidize modest housing, so that those from the low-income group can afford them.

        President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has reiterated the government's commitment while attending a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of affordable flats for blue-collar laborers in Serua Ciputat, South Tangerang, Banten Province, on Apr 27.

        PT PP, the developer for the construction of flats in South Tangerang , has planned to build nine thousand flats that are expected to be completed in 2018.

        Of the total, six thousand flats will be offered to laborers at a price of Rp293 million per unit, with a down payment of only one percent and an installment of Rp1.2 million per month. Each unit measures 30 square meters.   
    "This project is very important to realize the workers' welfare because the flats are affordable, inhabitable, and strategically located. I will continue to encourage relevant agencies to build such apartments in large numbers," the president stated.  

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.

PRIVATE DEVELOPERS SUPPORT ONE MILLION HOUSES PROGRAM by Fardah

Jakarta, June 25, 2015(Antara) - The government's plan to build some one million houses for people belonging to the low-income group has received significant support from the private sector and ministries.

       Three ministries - the Home Affairs Ministry, the Public Works and Housing Ministry, and the Agrarian and Layout Ministry - signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support the pro-people program on June 9, 2015.

       The MoU was inked to support the government's program that was officially launched by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) in April, 2015, in Ungaran, Central Java, Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo stated while addressing the signing ceremony.    

INDONESIA TO START IMPLEMENTATION OF ONE MILLION HOUSES PROGRAM by Fardah

  Jakarta, April 18, 2015 (Antara) - Providing adequate houses for Indonesia's population of over 250 million is certainly not easy, but the government is determined to realize the One Million Houses Program expected to be launched officially on April 30, 2015, by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.  
   Coinciding with the National Labor Day, the launch will be held in Ungaran, Semarang District, Central Java Province, which will be simultaneously followed by 17 provinces that are ready to support the program.

        President Jokowi has, in fact, set an ambitious target of building 10 million houses for low-income people by 2019, or two million houses annually.
    The government will start working on reducing a backlog of some 13.5 million housing units this year by implementing the program.