New social safety net to cost Rp 876b

JAKARTA (JP): The government will launch in September a three- month social safety net program worth Rp 876 billion (US$96.2 billion) to help victims of the prolonged economic crisis, the program's information center said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the government has provided Rp 366 billion to fund urban labor intensive projects which will employ at least 170,000 jobless people in 26 provinces. Each of them will work for 50 days.

The government has also allocated Rp 75 billion to help about 40,000 unemployed women, mostly in Java and Sumatra.

More funds worth Rp 435 billion have been prepared to help the regions overcome the impact of the crisis, it said.

"At least 1.3 million people in the provinces will participate in the construction of local infrastructure and in the provision of working capital," head of the information center Erman A. Rahman said.

The report did not disclose the financial sources of the project, nor the similar ones that have been launched since the economic crisis hit the country in 1997.

Erman said the government would make major improvements to ensure the efficient and effective management of the program, including involving local authorities.

"Different from the previous social safety net programs, this year's program has undergone several improvements," he said.

In February, the World Bank disbursed US$300 million of the blocked $600 million loan package destined for the country's social safety net program following the new government's pledge to stop abusing the fund.

The safety net program was successful in keeping four million students in school in 132,000 locations across the country in the 1998/1999 fiscal year.

During a visit here in February, World Bank president James Wolfensohn presented an award to the Ministry of National Education for its program to help poor students. The bank lent $500 million for the education project. (prb)