Infrastructure projects 'must be continued'

JAKARTA (JP): The government should continue with planned labor-intensive infrastructure projects despite the economic crisis to prevent more unemployment, an expert on urban issues said yesterday.

Urban and Regional Development Institute director BS. Kusbiantoro said rising unemployment due to the crisis would put the government in a difficult position later if adequate preparations were not made now.

"Unemployment could damage what we have achieved over the past years and could even affect national stability," Kusbiantoro, also a professor at Bandung Institute of Technology, said.

Going ahead with infrastructure projects would provide more jobs for casual workers and would prepare the country for when the economic situation returned to normal, he said.

These projects could be road, water supply network, drainage, wastewater treatment, water-catchment, irrigation and water canal projects.

Kusbiantoro did not suggest an alternative funding source for the projects.

He praised the Jakarta administration's plan to hire about 5,000 unskilled workers a month for its drainage system and river dredging projects, dike and canal renovations, and other projects.

Developing and renovating small houses, cheap apartments and markets would have spinoff benefits for related industrial sectors such as construction and housing, he said.

He suggested that 14 hectares of unused land in Jakarta and surrounding areas, and some riverbanks should be managed by farmers.

Private developers that have yet to use their land could cooperate with the farmers until they were ready to develop their land, he said.

"We should go ahead with efforts which would have multiplier economic effects."

The government should also offer incentives, including tax reductions, to private companies that develop labor intensive projects, he said.

To prevent further unemployment, the city administrations should postpone evictions from their slums, he said.

"People now tend to be against evictions. It would only give rise to dissatisfaction and protests."

Kusbiantoro said all these ideas were implemented by the governments of the United States, the Netherlands and Britain during their economic crises.

"The situations in those countries (before their recessions) were similar to that here before the crisis," he said.

He said transparent regulations and procedures, clean and competent officials, and good government were needed to ensure the success of these efforts. (jun)