Several issues regarding construction quality have been flagged despite the increased budget for the project, he noted.
Hidayat also pointed out that additional allocation of housing loan subsidies should be followed-up with proper supervision by banks and housing developers.
"The Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing should ensure banks and housing developers satisfy the technical specification and the construction criteria," he said.
Several housing developers are reluctant to apply the building function feasibility certificate (SLF), he noted and asked the ministry to ensure banks appoint only proper and law-abiding housing developers with sincere concern to construct houses for low-income residents.
Previously, the ministry's Director General of Infrastructure Financing Eko D Heripoerwanto asked developers to ensure the quality and safety of subsidized housing.
"We have found that several subsidized housing developers do not have the feasibility certificate despite its requirement for the loan agreement," he said.
The ministry had granted additional allocation for loan subsidies for around 18,500 new subsidized houses to the state-owned Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) for the third quarter of 2021.
BTN Bank has stated that around 3,500 housing units would be allocated to its Islamic bank subsidiary, BTN Syariah.
The bank said it has disbursed housing loans for 76,381 housing units until the end of July 2021, including 14,202 units allocated by the BTN Syariah Bank. The housing loan subsidies are projected to cover 16,654 units by the end of 2021, it added.
The central government has allocated a budget of Rp16.66 trillion (around US$1.1 billion) for 157,500 subsidized housing units under the housing finance liquidity facility.
It has also set aside Rp630 billion (around US$44.1 million) for down payment subsidy and Rp1.6 trillion (around US$112 million) for 39,339 housing units covered by the savings-based housing finance aid program.
Meanwhile, it has allocated Rp2.8 trillion (around US$196 million) for 25,380 houses covered by the public housing savings program.
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Translator: M Razi R, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Sri Haryati
Copyright © ANTARA 2021
