IDT program to continue with revision
JAKARTA (JP): The government-sponsored Presidential Aid for Least-Developed Villages (IDT) poverty alleviation program will continue albeit with some revision, an official said yesterday.
Mubyarto, assistant to State Minister of National Development Planning Ginandjar Kartasasmita, told a House of Representatives hearing that, although the government would no longer send funds to least-developed villages, the development of infrastructure in these villages would continue.
Legislators had questioned Mubyarto about the future of the three-year-old program which ends this year.
Launched in April 1994, the program involves 28,223 poor villages. Each village has received Rp 60 million (US$25,000) paid in stages over three fiscal years.
Mubyarto said the government would extend infrastructure development aid to boost economic activity in the villages. He said poor infrastructure was the reason that the IDT program had failed in some villages.
"Irian Jaya is one bad example of the IDT project. Despite its (wealth) in economic resources, (the province) has geographical disadvantages. The province is short of roads and must rely on air transportation," he said.
Another senior official at the ministry, Herman Haeruman, said that only 37.4 percent of the villages had enjoyed infrastructure development aid.
He said infrastructure development programs were expected to be completed in 2002 or 2003 in the remaining villages.
The government has provided Rp 480 billion, mostly from foreign loans, this fiscal year for the infrastructure development program.
Mubyarto said the IDT program would be revised to focus on raising the incomes of the 123,000 consultants, who are employed to help villagers make efficient use of their funding.
He suggested the government provide a Rp 460 billion subsidy for five years to help every village group run businesses under the consultants' guidance.
"After five years it is expected that every group will handle their business properly and pay their consultants 12.5 percent of turnover," Mubyarto said.
He said the government would not evaluate the IDT program in detail because of the many villages involved.
"The program is successful in most of the villages," he said.
He predicted that by the end of 2004, the number of Indonesians living below the poverty line would drop to only about six million.
President Soeharto said earlier this year, while delivering the state budget for the 1997/1998 fiscal year, that the number of poor had fallen to 22 million in 1996.
The government has introduced another poverty alleviation program, involving subsidized loans to poor families. The new program is financed by the Dana Sejahtera Mandiri Foundation, headed by President Soeharto.
The foundation raises its funds from donations from the country's wealthy. fund raising is based on a presidential decree ordering firms and individuals with annual after-tax earnings of more than Rp 100 million (US$42,000) to donate 2 percent of their incomes to the program. (amd)