Tito: Government Accelerates Permanent Housing Construction Post-Sumatra Disaster
The central government is currently striving to accelerate the construction of permanent housing (huntap) for Sumatra residents whose homes were severely damaged or lost due to recent hydrometeorological disasters. This effort is being undertaken so that affected residents do not have to stay in temporary housing (huntara) for too long.
This was stated by the Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) and Head of the Task Force for Accelerating Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Post-Sumatra Disaster, Muhammad Tito Karnavian, during a visit to the huntap construction site in Dolok Nauli Village, Adian Koting Subdistrict, Tapanuli Utara Regency, North Sumatra (Sumut), on Thursday (26/3). The inspection was conducted together with the Minister of Housing and Settlement Areas (PKP), Maruarar Sirait.
“This is indeed the stage; the huntara stage is almost complete. So we are now entering the stage where the acceleration of huntap is being pushed forward across the board,” Tito said.
The huntap construction has two schemes: in-situ and communal. In the in-situ scheme, residents can build houses independently in safe locations with funding support of Rp60 million from the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), which will be disbursed in two stages. In addition to self-construction, house building can also be handed over to BNPB.
“In Aceh, I discussed with the Head of BNPB yesterday; approximately 15,000 out of 26,000 are in-situ. Whether built by BNPB or built by themselves, with money provided by BNPB,” Tito said.
Meanwhile, in the communal scheme, huntap construction is carried out in a complex where the land is provided by the regional government (Pemda). The construction process is handled by the Ministry of PKP or through mutual cooperation with ministries or other institutions, including non-governmental parties.
In this case, the huntap construction in Dolok Nauli Village, Adian Koting Subdistrict, Tapanuli Utara Regency, is an example of the communal scheme with non-governmental support from the Buddha Tzu Chi Foundation.
Tito mentioned that the Buddha Tzu Chi Foundation is building a total of 2,603 huntap units spread across three affected provinces: Aceh, Sumut, and West Sumatra (Sumbar). In detail, 1,000 units are being built in Aceh, 1,103 units in Sumut, and 500 units in Sumbar. Specifically for Tapanuli Utara Regency, the foundation will build 103 huntap units.
At the same time, the Regent of Tapanuli Utara, Jonius Taripar Parsaoran Hutabarat, assured that the land used is a regional government asset that has obtained approval from the Regional People’s Representative Council (DPRD) and holds an official certificate.
Currently, the regional government is preparing a legal agreement to ensure that ownership of the land can be transferred to the beneficiary community.
This housing provision effort also involves various institutions, including the Ministry of Public Works, PT PLN, the North Sumatra Provincial Government (Pemprov Sumut), the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), and BNPB.