TEMPO.CO, Yogyakarta - Yogyakarta government official says that World Bank and private firms will help in combating poverty in the region. Private firms have already been actively involved in eradicating poverty through corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, particularly in revamping housing and infrastructure.
Yogyakarta Regional Legislative Council has met the government several times to address poverty that afflicted public housing. The aim is to reduce the poverty rate in Yogyakarta by 2019, which currently stands at 13 percent.
Yogyakarta Public Housing Office official Birowo elaborated that the World Bank had met with the government this year and had promised to help revamp 30,000 uninhabitable houses in 34 provinces.
Private firms will be joining the efforts to revamp slum areas or to improve uninhabitable houses. State-owned lender Bank BRI had planned to revamp 300 houses in Kricak village, Yogyakarta. Non-governmental organizations will also help improve housing complexes, such as Habitat for Humanity in Dlingo, Bantul District and Yayasan Rumah Kita who has a rolling plan to eradicate poverty.
Birowo said that government agencies are also involved in combating poverty in the region. The Non-Vertical Housing Task Force formed by the government in every province has been financing improvement projects for 2000 houses annually. In a coordinating meeting with the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry with regional governments held in Semarang, Central Java, in early February, special allocation funds (DAK) were disbursed to revamp 500 homes in Sleman and Kulon Progo districts, respectively.
Yogyakarta Regional Legislative Council’s Commission C member Anton Prabu Semendawai said that Yogyakarta ought to take Bali’s lead by actively helping local governments in addressing poverty problem afflicting public housing.
Anton said that Bali is capable of revamping 1,600 uninhabitable houses a year. The efforts are believed to have sharply reduced economic inequality to only 0.3 percent and lower poverty rate to 3 percent.
Meanwhile, Yogyakarta’s efforts to combat poverty afflicting public housing have been sluggish due to high economic inequality and poverty rate. The region’s poverty rate stands at 13 percent, but economic inequality rate is the highest in Indonesia at 4 percent.
PRIBADI WICAKSONO
