Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Public Works and Housing (PUPR) Ministry confirmed that 110,544 workers got employed through the Cash Labor-Intensive Program (PKT) until early March of 2021.
"In addition to accelerating economic recovery and increasing the people's purchasing power, the Cash Labor-Intensive Program aims to distribute funds to villages. The program should also be implemented in compliance with the physical and social distancing protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19," PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono noted in a written statement received here on Tuesday.
The minister remarked that the program was implemented through infrastructure development that involved communities, particularly for small-scale infrastructure development or simple work that did not necessitate the use of technology.
Minister Hadimuljono is sanguine that the program would directly contribute to efforts to drive the nation’s economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The PUPR Ministry has implemented the program in 2021, with a budget funding of Rp23.24 trillion to absorb 1.23 million workers.
Until early March of 2021, the budget funding to implement the program had reached Rp1.39 trillion, or six percent of the total funds, and had employed 110,544 workers.
Meanwhile, the types of work conducted by workers in the program comprised the development of community infrastructure that supports the productivity of rural communities, such as carrying out small-scale irrigation construction, roads repairs, and construction of subsidized houses, as well as handling slum areas and improving the quality of drinking water and sanitation facilities.
To handle water resources infrastructure (SDA), the cash-intensive scheme has allotted a budget of Rp7.15 trillion, with a target of 386,159 workers. The program is implemented across all River Basin Areas (BBWS/BWS) of the SDA Directorate General of the Ministry, spread throughout 34 provinces.
For road and bridge repairs, the PUPR Ministry, through the Directorate General of Highways, has allocated Rp6.69 trillion of funding to absorb 273,603 workers. Furthermore, funding of Rp5.29 trillion is allotted for the development of settlements and targeted to absorb 194,471 workers.
Furthermore, the labor-intensive budget is allocated by the Directorate General of Housing for subsidized housing programs, or known as self-help housing stimulant assistance (BSPS), totaling 190,130 units, with a target of 378,460 workers. In 2021, some Rp4.11 trillion of funding had been apportioned for the program and will be implemented for improving the quality of self-help housing.
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