Subsidy proposed to lower land prices
Subsidy proposed to lower land prices
DILI, East Timor: State Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tandjung said the government intends to give housing development in the youngest province higher priority.
After meeting with 13 regents and one East Timorese mayor on Thursday, Akbar called on the provincial administration to back the government up with flexible housing regulations.
"The local administration should encourage the private sector to develop houses in the province," he said.
He also called on the government and housing developers to assist government employees and low-income people in the purchase of low-cost houses.
"The local administration can help by reducing the interest rate for low-cost houses as well as by simplifying the procedures for housing loan applications," he said.
He also suggested that the local administration nullify the loan agreement clauses which stipulate that applicants should have served in government for a certain period of time.
State-owned housing development company Perum Perumnas and local private housing developers have noted an increasing demand for low-cost houses in the province.
Sondang P. Gultom, the East Timor head of Perumnas' construction division, said that Perumnas is currently working to complete the construction of 991 low-cost houses in the province.
"Even now the rising demand is more than we can meet," she said.
People in the market for houses are both local and migrants from other provinces, which, according to Sondang, indicates a similar level of welfare between the two groups.
Antonio da Silva, chairman of the East Timor office of the Indonesian Real Estate Association (REI), said that private developers can build only 500 houses in every regency, while demand exceeds 700 houses annually.
Akbar also visited a housing development project in Liquisa regency. He was accompanied by REI's executive chairman Enggartiasto Lukita, Perumnas chairman Srijono, and deputy chairman of state-owned Bank Tabungan Negara Pandamsih.
One of the ways to control the ever rising housing prices in big cities, Akbar said, is for the government to subsidize land acquisitions for housing projects.
He said "political will" on the part of the government was the only way to deal with the high price of houses, as construction and cement costs are nearly impossible to push down.
"Housing construction costs in Java are very difficult to control," he said. "And it's very difficult for the government to control cement prices because they depend on market supply." (imn)