Jakarta ( WNAM MONITORING): President Prabowo Subianto reaffirmed his commitment to providing decent and affordable housing for workers.
In his remarks, the President said the government has developed hundreds of thousands of houses for the public and plans to scale up construction in the future.
“We have built quite a lot this year, up to 350,000 houses. But our target is to build one million houses, starting this year,” Prabowo said at the International Workers’ Day commemoration in Jakarta on Friday.
“These houses will—as you suggested—be built in clusters close to industrial areas, close to workplaces,” he added.
The President also revealed plan to develop new cities that will be designed to be worker-friendly.
Each city, according to him, is planned to have around 100,000 housing units and public facilities to support the needs of its residents.
“There must be schools, sports facilities, daycares, hospitals, and most importantly, transportation—whether light rail or buses, so workers can get to work smoothly and safely,” Prabowo said.
The President emphasized that addressing housing needs is crucial, given the high cost of housing for workers.
The government, he said, will seek to ensure that housing costs can be shifted into long-term and affordable home ownership installments, ideally with a minimum tenure of 20 years.
In the financing sector, Prabowo added that the government will provide access to low-interest credit through state-owned banks, including plans to launch People’s Business Credit (KUR) with a maximum interest rate of five percent per year.
