Labor-intensive projects to start again

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration will start the second phase of labor-intensive projects to help ease burgeoning unemployment later this month, an official said yesterday.

Deputy governor for social welfare Djailani said the projects, which are expected to start by May 25, were intended to give jobs to unskilled workers who had lost their jobs during the economic crisis.

Funds of up to Rp 27.5 billion were originally earmarked for the project. Provisions for Rp 17.1 billion and Rp 8 billion were written into the 1998/1999 state and city budgets respectively. The remaining Rp 2.4 billion was to be donated by local business people.

However, Djailani said funds for the project would likely be reduced in line with the 35 percent cut in the city budget announced last month. The 1998/1999 budget was slashed from Rp 2.79 trillion to Rp 1.8 trillion due to projections of negative growth this year.

"But we will make sure that the cut remains within 50 percent of the original allocation of Rp 8 billion," he said.

The first phase of labor-intensive projects ran from January to March and employed at least 35,000 people. Workers were paid a daily rate of Rp 7,500 to repair water pipelines, dredge rivers, and renovate dikes and water canals throughout Jakarta.

Djailani said initiatives scheduled for the second phase of the scheme would include training courses on entrepreneurial skills, the development of cooperatives at sub-district level, and planting trees on derelict land across the city.

"About 200,000 trees will be planted in the city's five mayoralties," he said.

The second phase of the program will run over a period of 240 days, he said.

The program is expected to employ up to 7,000 people a day, he said.

The head of the Ministry of Manpower's office for worker training in the city, I Made Wessen, said yesterday that at least 253 companies had asked the government for permission to dismiss their employees.

He was unable to say exactly how many people had been laid-off by companies embattled by worsening economic conditions.

"But some 81,000 people had reportedly lost their jobs as of April, when economic growth in the city hit zero percent," Made said.

"I cannot predict the increase in the number of unemployed when economic growth drops to minus 7 percent," he added.

Djailani said the program would definitely employ female workers.

"It is estimated that about 12 percent of the 7,000 targeted workers will be women," he said.

In early March, at least 6,000 women reported their dismissal to the Ministry of Manpower.

Djailani said there would not be any change in the wage paid to people participating in the second phase of the program. "They will still be paid Rp 7,500 a day." (cst)