T

he Agrarian Spatial Planning Ministry has, as of October, issued 6.2 million land certificates, nearly reaching its target of handing out 7 million throughout the year.

Agrarian Spatial Planning Minister Sofyan Djalil said he was optimistic the target could be reached by the end of 2018.

“Our ambitious target is to completely distribute all plots of land by 2025,” said Sofyan in Jakarta on Thursday, as reported by kontan.co.id, adding that next year, the ministry would issue 9 million land certificates.

He emphasized the importance of the land certification program, which was aimed at providing people with certainty over the ownership of their own land. It also helps push the government’s financial inclusion program, because the certificates could be used as collateral when applying for bank loans.

Sofyan said the program would also minimize agrarian conflicts.

The distribution of land certificates is one of the prioritized programs introduced by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. His administration aims to distribute 23 million land certificates by the time Jokowi ends his first five-year term in 2019.