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Government to deploy more land measurement officers
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Activists, students and farmer representatives call on the government to realize its land reform program in a rally in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara. (JP/Panca Nugraha)
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grarian and Spatial Planning Minister Sofyan Djalil said Sunday that the government would deploy more land measurement officers in order to expedite the implementation of its agrarian reform program.
"We have carried out the test [for those applying to become land measurement officers] and plan to give job certificates to around 1,600 [new officers]," Sofyan told a discussion on the government's agrarian reform and social forestry programs.
In the agrarian reform policy, which aims to reduce social and economic inequality, the government is targeting the legalization of land ownership of 4.5 million ha and redistribution of 4.5 million ha land to specified citizens, such as small-scale farmers.
Sofyan said President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had ordered the ministry to grant certificates for 5 million plots of land this year following the sluggish realization of the program in 2016.
Of the targeted 3.9 million ha of land to be legalized, and apart from 0.6 million ha of land used for the transmigration program, only 15.62 percent, equal to 609,349 ha, was completed as of 2016, ministry data showed.
"It will be easier to achieve the target now that we have more land measurement officers to be deployed in regions," Sofyan said.
(Read also: Govt goes extra mile to accelerate land distribution)
He also pointed out that another problem in land certification is the inability of citizens to pay building and land acquisition tax (BPTHB).
He said several regions had freed citizens from paying the tax or given a tax cut of up to 70 percent to solve the problem. (wit)
