Jakarta (ANTARA) - Acting Governor of Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono has planned to rehabilitate slums areas located in 250 community units (RWs) in the capital city to improve public health and welfare.

"There will be house renovation and so on," Hartono noted here on Friday.

Based on data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), 450 community units are categorized as slum areas, Jakarta's assistant for development and environment Afan Adriansyah Idris remarked.

Of that figure, 200 RWs have received handling or assistance from the provincial government, while the other 250 will receive gradual rejuvenation until the fiscal year 2026.

"There are 250 RWs that we are going to work on in stages until 2026," Idris remarked.

However, he did not furnish details on the amount of budget required for the slum handling program.

Hartono explained that his side has allocated the budget for rehabilitating slums in the capital city and is collaborating with the private sector through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds.

One of the slum rehabilitation efforts is transforming dense and unhealthy residential areas with no proper sunlight and air circulation.

"In North Jakarta, the roofs of houses facing each other are too close that there is no sunlight and no air circulation," Idris remarked.

Jakarta BPS revealed that the number of poor people in the capital city increased by 3,750, making the total 502 thousand people, or 4.69 percent of the total population, based on the results of the National Socioeconomic Survey (Susenas) in March 2022.

In 2021, Jakarta's population reached 10.6 million people.

Earlier, the Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD) member Hardiyanto Kenneth urged Acting Governor Hartono to evaluate Gubernatorial Regulation No. 90 of 2018 concerning Improving the Quality of Settlements in the Framework of Structuring Integrated Residential Areas.

According to Kenneth, several slum community units in Jakarta have not been recorded, and those recorded in the data have not been rehabilitated.

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Translator: Dewa W, Kenzu
Editor: Sri Haryati
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