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