South Sulawesi launches house renovation program for the poor

Andi Hajramurni , The Jakarta Post , Makassar | Wed, 07/09/2008 10:48 AM | The Archipelago

The South Sulawesi administration has launched a bedah rumah house renovation program for low-income families in the province.

As many as 120 houses in the regencies of Gowa, Takalar, Sinjai, Selayar, Luwu, Wajo and Bone will be renovated as a pilot project for the program.

"It's a small number but we hope it will help produce more proper houses for poor people," the head of South Sulawesi's village community empowerment body (BPMD), Massalangka Tjullang, said earlier this week.

According to the provincial statistic bureau, 1.1 million people in South Sulawesi were living below the poverty line in 2007, including some 400,000 people categorized as "extremely poor".

South Sulawesi's population is 7.4 million, spread over 23 regencies/cities.

Officials forecast the number of poor in the province will increase by 1.0 to 1.7 percent annually. Nationally, the number of poor is expected to go up by about 2.5 percent per year.

The BPMD introduced the house renovation program as part of a national community empowerment program aimed at helping economically poor families renovate their houses to make them more suitable for human habitation.

"We don't build new houses for them but renovate damaged parts of their houses," Massalangka said.

He said eligible recipients of the program would be given cash, according to an approved proposal, to renovate their houses under the BPMD's supervision.

One village will be chosen from each of the seven selected regencies. Village authorities will then propose between 10 and 15 houses to renovate.

"We hope this will help in our fight against poverty in the province," Massalangka said.

The provincial government has allocated Rp 800 million (US$88,800) in its 2008 budget for the program, he said.

The BPMD, according to Massalangka, has plans to renovate a total of 540 houses in South Sulawesi's 23 regencies/cities.

He said applicants should not be concerned if they were not selected for the first round of the program.

"We are still in the try-out phase. We will conduct the program in batches," he said.

The house renovation program, Massalangka said, is just one of several efforts introduced by the provincial government to address the problem of poverty.

Other programs include free education and free health services for lower income families, he said.

Comments (0) | Post comment

A | A | A |