Jakarta, Feb 28 (Antara) - The government has allocated budget worth Rp60 trillion this year as village funds to help develop villages and disadvantaged regions and to finance labor-intensive programs in villages.
Some 30 percent of the Rp60 trillion will be channeled to fund the labor-intensive program in a bid to help improve the welfare of villagers. The government has also deployed some 39 thousand village assistants to facilitate the implementation of this program.
According to the Ministry of Village, Disadvantaged Region Development, and Transmigration (PDTT), the village assistants are tasked with providing information and guidance on the use of the funds for village development.
For the management of funds, the PDTT Ministry has also urged village assistants to promote and supervise the cash labor-intensive program in villages.
"Currently, PDTT Minister (Eko Putro Sandjojo) continues to visit villages to raise awareness on the use of village funds through the cash labor-intensive program, and we have also mobilized 39 thousand village assistant officials to oversee the utilization of village funds through the cash-for-work programs," Director General for Disadvantaged Areas Development of the PDTT Syamsul Widodo noted in Jakarta on Thursday (Feb 15).
Widodo explained that through the cash-for-work program, villages are no longer employing contractors for village development using the village funds. Hence, the village community can benefit from the village funds.
This is since some 30 percent of the budget for village funds should be used for paying local workers or the villagers. The goal is to give an opportunity to villagers to earn a livelihood and offer certainty through cash labor-intensive programs.
Thus, apart from facilitating the development of various basic infrastructure projects in villages, the village funds can also increase the purchasing power of villagers. Several priority programs for utilizing village funds that are superior products of rural areas, include the development of retention basins, sporting facilities, and village-owned enterprises. They are conducted by using the cash-intensive schemes.
This year, the government has disbursed village funds worth Rp60 trillion. The government has also established 10 districts and 100 villages that will implement the cash-for-work programs in early 2018. Some 100 districts and one thousand villages will be covered in the next phase.
For instance, the Ministry of Transportation is allocating some Rp1.27 trillion from the village funds to implement labor-intensive programs in the air, land, and sea transportation sectors.
"We sincerely chalk out labor-intensive programs in order to provide more employment opportunities to job seekers, as there are many people without jobs," Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi had noted in Tangerang, Banten, on Saturday (Feb 24).
For developing the sea transportation sector, the ministry is allocating Rp275 billion for the cash-for-work program.
In a statement in Surabaya, East Java, on Tuesday (Feb 27), Secretary of the Directorate General of Sea Transportation Captain Rudiana remarked that the Directorate General of Sea Transportation had prepared budget worth Rp275 billion for facilitating the cash-for-work program in 2018 to be implemented in 323 Technical Implementation Units of the Directorate General of Sea Transportation.
"As per the direction of the minister of transportation, we ensure that the cash-for-work programs will continue to further empower communities through the implementation of programs that favor small communities," Rudiana noted.
Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, during his visit to the Curug High Aviation School in Tangerang, Banten, on Saturday, stated that the labor-intensive programs are expected to absorb some 70 thousand workers.
"We sincerely draw the labor-intensive programs in order to provide more employments for job-seekers as there are a lot of them who have no jobs," Minister Budi Karya Sumadi noted. He added that the labor-intensive program is carried out based on the directives of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) to replace the previous direct cash assistance (BLT).
"The BLT, according to the president, is not educative in nature and is different from the labor-intensive program, where they are given jobs and receive incomes," the minister explained.
President Jokowi has expressed hope that the cash labor-intensive program involving the local people would be able to boost the circulation of money and the people's purchasing power in rural areas.
"We really hope the program would be able to boost the circulation of money and purchasing power in rural areas," the president remarked while reviewing the cash labor-intensive program for the construction of roads and small irrigation project at the Kukuh Village in Tabanan District, Bali Province, on Friday (Feb 23).
Jokowi noted that such a project is expected to increase the people's purchasing and consumption power in future. The projects that have, so far, been implemented in rural areas are those of the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing.
The president expressed hope that more such projects would be worked out based on the cash labor-intensive pattern. If all devices and instruments have been prepared up to the lowest level, then the absorption of funds in villages for such projects can be optimized.
Based on Jokowi's labor-intensive program in villages, at least 30 percent of the village funds should be designed as payment for workers in labor-intensive projects.
Data, based on the program, indicate that there are 74,910 villages that should receive the funds. With Rp60 trillion, based on a average calculation, each village will receive Rp800 million, of which 30 percent, or Rp240 million, will be allocated to villagers who are workers.***4***(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE/B003(T.A014/A/BESSR/Bustanuddin) 28-02-2018 19:32: |
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