Certificates Still Not Finalised, Nusron: Society Not Yet Able to Pay BPHTB

JAKARTA - The Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/Head of the National Land Agency (ATR/BPN), Nusron Wahid, stated that the land certification process in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) remains incomplete because many residents are still unable to pay the Acquisition Duty on Land and Buildings (BPHTB). “Around 250,000 people have registered and the maps are ready, but the certificates have not been issued. Why? They are not yet able to pay the BPHTB,” he emphasised. He revealed a gap between the number of land plots that have been registered and those that have been certified in NTB. Of the total land plots, 61 per cent have been registered, but only 53 per cent have been certified. Thus, there is still a difference of 8 per cent that needs to be resolved. To address this issue, Nusron proposed that local governments provide BPHTB exemptions, particularly for extremely poor communities. According to him, this policy could serve as a concrete solution to speed up the issuance of land certificates while improving community welfare. “With them having a land certificate, who knows, the land could then be used as collateral for KUR (People’s Business Credit) for business ventures and so on,” he added. Several regions in Indonesia have already implemented the BPHTB exemption policy earlier, such as East Java, Central Java, and Lampung. This policy is considered capable of accelerating land certification in each region. Through this step, it is hoped that more people, especially vulnerable groups, will obtain legal certainty over their land while opening access to financing sources to improve their standard of living.