Housing Minister Drafts Law to Tackle National Backlog
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Housing and Settlement Areas (PKP) Maruarar Sirait said a Housing Bill is being drafted to accelerate the handling of the housing backlog through stronger data, financing, land provision, and cross-ministerial synergy.
Maruarar Sirait, familiarly known as Ara, said the regulation was discussed with the Chair of the National Economic Council (DEN), Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who provided various inputs based on his years of experience handling strategic government policies.
“I also mentioned in our discussion today that we are drafting a Housing Bill. There were many excellent inputs because Mr Luhut is very experienced in government, having served as Coordinating Minister, Chief of the Presidential Staff Office, and so on, as well as a minister,” Ara said after a limited meeting with DEN Chair Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan in Jakarta on Thursday.
Ara said the government will meet again next week to formulate the synchronisation of housing policies so that all aspects of housing development can run in an integrated and mutually supportive manner.
“So we plan to meet again next week to formulate how to synchronise housing matters relating to the entire housing ecosystem,” he said.
The synchronisation involves various ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN), the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and Statistics Indonesia (BPS) as the national data provider.
The PKP Ministry will also integrate land provision, financing, databases, and other supporting policies into a single ecosystem to speed up the provision of housing for the public.
“So there is land, there are financing matters, there are data matters and so on, all as one unified whole,” he said.
The drafting of the Housing Bill will serve as the foundation for accelerating the handling of the housing backlog by strengthening the national housing ecosystem.
A housing backlog is the gap between the number of homes needed by the public and the number of homes available.
The PKP Minister and DEN Chair Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan are strengthening the national housing ecosystem through the integration of data, technology, and cross-sector policies.
“Today (Thursday, 23/7) we had a long discussion with the DEN Chair, Mr Luhut. Number one on the agenda was IT, artificial intelligence, and technology in general. We discussed how to make things more transparent, faster, better targeted, and data-driven,” Ara said.
Ara said the main discussions with the DEN focused on the use of information technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and data-based systems so that all housing programmes run more transparently and accurately target those in need.
The PKP Ministry will synchronise its internal database with Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data, along with support from the DEN team, to produce more accurate and integrated national housing data.
The synchronisation includes recording the housing backlog by name by address, covering both people who do not yet own a home and occupants of uninhabitable dwellings across Indonesia. The integrated data will also serve as the basis for distributing housing stimulus assistance, including the home renovation programme.