Preconditions attached to emergency loans
JAKARTA (JP): Poor city residents hoping to get a portion of the Rp 109.52 billion emergency aid fund must first meet certain requirements, heads of the Village Resilience Board (LKMD) said Tuesday.
According to LKMD executives in charge of channeling the aid money, people wanting loans from the fund would, for instance, have to submit a proposal to their neighborhood chief.
In the proposal, the applicants must give complete personal details and specify the size of the loan requested and the type of business the money would be used for.
A.M. Dani, LKMD head of the Kampung Bali subdistrict in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, said that of the 20,000 residents of his area, 2,000 people have been classified as poor and jobless, and these would be divided into 100 groups.
"The aid, which will be handed over when they pass all the requirements, could be used either collectively by the group or individually. It's entirely up to the groups," Dani said.
Each group is required to repay the entire amount of the interest-free loan over a period of one year, with the first installment due three months after receiving the money, he added.
H. Emin of Klender subdistrict in East Jakarta insisted that the aid would be given only to the real residents of the respective areas.
"We, together with the local subdistrict chief, will strictly control the use of the money," Emin said, adding that 4,000 of Klender's population of 56,000 would be queuing for their share of the Rp 1.4 billion loan earmarked for the area.
The heads of LKMDs in Kamal subdistrict, West Jakarta and Kalibaru in North Jakarta also shared the idea of imposing strict requirements on those applying for the loan.
The aid program, funded by the National Development Planning Board, is conducted under the auspices of the PDMDKE, a program designed to help people cope with the worst effects of the ongoing economic turmoil.
As of Tuesday, many LKMDs had not yet received the funds, even though the deadline for the disbursement was set for Jan. 15.
Out of the four LKMD representatives contacted Tuesday, only Dani claimed to have received the money.
"A cheque worth Rp 178.06 million was cashed on Friday, which we then put in an account at the (state-run) BNI branch in Tanah Abang," Dani said.
According to Bambang Sungkono, head of the city development planning board, the total amount of the funds are in the BRI bank headquarters in Jakarta, waiting for immediate disbursement to all LKMDs whose proposals meet the bank's requirements.
"The bank will immediately withdraw the money for them as soon as they can fulfill the prerequisites. Without them, they'll get nothing," he said. (ylt)