Foreign-funded projects to be labor-intensive

Foreign-funded projects to be labor-intensive

JAKARTA (JP): State Minister of National Development Planning
Ginandjar Kartasasmita said yesterday that most foreign-funded
projects in the 1998/199 fiscal year would be designed to help
cope with the unemployment problems caused by the economic
crisis.

Ginandjar, who is also the chairman of the National
Development Planning Board, said the World Bank and the Asian
Development Bank had agreed to the government's request for a
labor-intensive approach to projects funded by the two
institutions.

"The World Bank usually won't make any changes in its TOR
(terms of reference)," he said, adding that the revision would
focus on using masses of labor and keeping a very low import
content.

He explained that the government would try to absorb as much
labor as possible through its labor-intensive projects to
minimize unemployment resulting from the financial turmoil.

He was speaking at a seminar commemorating the 30th
anniversary of the ruling Golkar faction of the House of
Representatives.

Manpower Minister Abdul Latief has estimated 8.5 million
people will be out of work by the end of this year.

Ginandjar said the labor-intensive projects would be
prioritized for seasonal laborers who migrate to the big cities,
especially Jakarta, and poorer people both in cities and rural
areas.

He said that blue-collar workers who had recently lost their
jobs because of the crisis would be a second priority because
they had received three months severance pay.

This is at odds with a recent statement by Latief that
announced the priority would be given to white-collar workers.

The government has allocated Rp 1.8 trillion in its 1998/1999
draft budget to finance the labor intensive projects. The World
Bank has pledged US$1 billion.

Some of the projects have already started. They include
clearing the country's filthy drainage systems.

"But once all these are in place," Ginandjar said, the project
would be directed at the blue-collar workers.

He, however, said that for this type of worker the funds would
be focused on providing entrepreneurial training and capital, so
they could develop new businesses.

Meanwhile, former economic and environment minister Emil Salim
criticized the House, especially the majority Golkar faction, for
failing to oversee the government's executive function during the
last 30 years.

Other speakers and participants also agreed that such a lack
of control, especially during the last five years, had partly
caused the current crisis.

Emil urged the House to be more active in articulating the
interests of marginalized people, especially in protecting them
from the hazards of the painful IMF economic reforms, which the
government had agreed upon in return for a US$43 billion bailout.

He stressed, however, that since President Soeharto had given
his commitment it was important for the House to support the
reforms. (08)