Crisis creates 49 new slums

Crisis creates 49 new slums

TANGERANG: The prolonged monetary crisis, which has led many
residents to lose their jobs, had increased the number of slum
villages here from 22 to 71 within the last two years, an
official said on Friday.

"The new slum villages are located in six districts in the
Tangerang municipal administration, such as Benda, Jatiuwung,
Batu Ceper, Cipondoh, Cileduk and Tangerang districts," Head of
the Tangerang Resettlement and Infrastructure Agency, Roostiwie,
told The Jakarta Post.

The data were based on the latest survey conducted by the
Tangerang municipal development planning agency. She said that
when a similar survey was carried out in 1999, there had been
only 22 slum villages in the same districts.

Roostiwie said the 49 villages were classified as new slum
areas because they had high population density, poor
environmental infrastructure and inadequate social and public
facilities.

Moreover, she added, all of the residents living in the
villages earned very low incomes.--JP