T

he Bali administration will continue a house renovation program it launched two years ago by renovating 1,550 houses owned by low-income families in all regencies in 2012.

The administration has allocated some Rp 31 billion (US$ 3.379 million) from this year’s provincial budget, with the renovation of each house pegged at Rp 20 million.

The regency receiving the biggest allocation in this program is Buleleng, with 584 houses under the program. Other regencies are Klungkung with 163 houses, Gianyar with 152 houses, Bangli with 94 houses and Karangasem with 141 houses.

There are also 126 houses in Tabanan that will be renovated, as well as 191 homes in Jembrana, 79 in Badung and 20 in Denpasar.

Administration spokesman Ketut Teneng said that as of the end of last year, the administration had renovated 2,461 houses funded by the provincial budget and 493 houses funded by corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs of private companies.

“We renovated 2,954 houses in total from 2010 to the end of 2011. This year, we are targeting to renovate 1,550 houses,” he announced on Thursday.

Since the program targeted 13,000 poor households in all regencies across the island, after the 2012 target is completed, the administration will still have another 8,496 houses to renovate, he added.

I Ketut Susrama, the head of the provincial Social Service Agency, said the renovation program would be conducted by involving the administration in each village.

“In each village, a special team will be established to carry out and manage the program. The village head will appoint one person in the village considered capable and trustworthy to be the leader of the team.”

With this system, people in a village participate by helping with the renovation of neighbors’ houses, he said, adding that the results were good last year and the administration therefore had continued using this system.

In 2011, the administration targeted to renovate 1,000 houses, comprising 200 homes in Karangasem, 112 in Tabanan, 95 in Jembrana, 200 in Buleleng, 125 in Bangli and 125 in Klungkung, all of which were completed by three companies selected by the administration through a tender.

The administration also appointed another company to renovate 143 homes in Gianyar, Badung and Denpasar, but only 57 were completed by the end of the company’s contract in December.

“We will complete the renovation of the remaining 86 homes this year,” Teneng said, adding that the administration was scheduled to continue the program in February.

The administration also expects more private companies to participate in the program through their CSR schemes.

Teneng said that the program ran simultaneously with other poverty eradication programs carried out by the administration, with the aim of decreasing the poverty rate in Bali.

Based on the administration’s data in 2011, 4.2 percent of Bali’s population still lives in poverty. The number decreased from 4.88 percent in 2010 and 5.13 percent in 2009.

“By providing decent housing, we expect the recipients to have a better and more productive life, thus improving the quality of human resources in Bali,” Teneng said.