Minister of PDTT Admits Development of Rural Areas Still Slow

INDUSTRY.co.id -  Sorong - Village Minister, Development of Underdeveloped Regions and Transmigration Eko Putro Sandjojo acknowledges that the development of rural areas, especially in many mountainous areas of West Papua, is still slow.

"In the mountains it was a bit isolated, it's still a bit slow," he admitted while in the city of Sorong, Saturday (28/07/2018)

This, he said, because there is no infrastructure that supports the mobility of people there while building the inland areas where the majority of poor and disadvantaged villages is a priority program that is being promoted by the government.

"We must know that building a village is not like turning a palm of the hand, because many of our villages are heavily and lagged base from the beginning of 2015. But with the Village Fund gradually the growth of the village began to flatten," he said.

Eko added, in line with the strong hope of President Joko Widodo to build the village, the government within three years has poured funds amounting to Rp187 trillion for the provision of Village Funds. The funds will be raised annually according to the readiness of the village apparatus.

"The poor villages will get more than Rp800 million from the villages which get affirmations faster," he said.

The fund, he acknowledged, was initially given to the district government. Not all villages get the same funds. Now, at least all villages get the same fund.

In addition, the construction of Trans Papua road infrastructure that connects West Papua province - Papua along the 3,800 kilometers opened by President Joko Widodo a few months ago is expected to accelerate development in other areas in the vicinity.

"Because the road construction by President Jokowi to penetrate the mountains, it will happen faster," he said.