"There are 2,550 houses that have been renovated. Insya Allah (God willing), more houses of low-income families in Langsa can be renovated," Secretary of the Langsa city administration Syahrul Thaib said here on Sunday.
Thanks to the support of the Public Works and Housing Ministry and Aceh provincial government, Langsa has been declared as the best city for implementing the "Bedan Rumah" Program, he said.
The "Bedah Rumah" Program is one of the government's endeavors to assist poor and low-income families to improve their welfare.
Regarding poverty rate in Indonesia, the central government has been striving to reduce its poverty rate that is expected to reach nine percent by the end of 2019.
As revealed by former National Development Planning Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro, the government had set a target of reducing our poverty rate to the level of 8.5 to 9.5 percent.
"If we still find that the last figure stays at 9.66 percent, we hope it would be recorded at the level of nine percent at the end of 2019," he remarked.
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To achieve the target, the government will focus on strengthening its social aid services for appropriate and eligible recipients, including the non-cash food assistance program (BPNT) and Indonesian Health Cards (KIS), he explained.
The targeted recipients of programs, such as the BNPN, KIS, Family Hope Program (PKH), and the Indonesian Smart Cards (KIP), are those belonging to the list of extreme poverty.
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Those vulnerable to falling into the poverty line will be economically empowered by offering access to microfinance and by creating more jobs, Brodjonegoro stated.
As of September 2018, there are still 25.67 million poor people in Indonesia. The total number decreased around 0.28 million people as compared to that of March 2018 and around 0.91 million people than that of September 2017.
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Translator: M.Said, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2019
