"This is an irrigation project, the same as that I visited yesterday (in Tegal). We have 190 workers earning different wages," the president noted at a paddy field in Kersanagara Village, Cibeureum Sub-district of Tasikmalaya City on Tuesday.
The president, accompanied by Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono, held a discussion with some workers on the field.
Jokowi reviewed the cash for work program to build a tertiary irrigation system in Lo Village in Tegal District.
Workers involved in the project are paid Rp100 thousand (US$7.48) per day, while their assistants were paid Rp80 thousand ($5.99) per day, with a payout every week.
"Here they were paid once a week," Jokowi remarked, adding that the project has run for a week.
"This is a new project, not even a week old, but the progress is remarkable," he noted.
As many as 19 ministries and state institutions have collaborated to fund the cash for work program, including Public Works and Housing Ministry, Transportation Ministry, and Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry.
The program is aimed at increasing the people`s purchasing power, boosting the circulation of money in society, and increasing consumption.
Under the cash for work program, some 30 percent of the village funds will be utilized to pay workers who are local villagers, and the program is expected to create five million jobs.
Among the projects covered under the cash for work program are the construction of a water reservoir, road, bridge, irrigation system, village polyclinic, early childhood care and education, and village market.
The program will be implemented in 74,954 villages in 2018, while the program had covered 74,910 villages in 2017.
According to a study of the Directorate General of Financial Balancing, the cash for work program can absorb 110 to 475 workers for 55 to 150 working days.
Following implementation, the program will increase the people`s income by Rp154 million ($11,525) to reach Rp835 million ($62.5 thousand) and purchasing power of Rp108 million ($8 thousand) to Rp584 million ($43.7 thousand) in each village.
Reported by Desca Lidya Natalia
(S022/INE)
EDITED BY INE/a014
Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
