"The president's direction is the targeted houses to receive this are those in regions, including regions with high stunting rate, especially those that need intervention in better clean water provision," National Development Planning Minister Suharso Monoarfa stated at the Merdeka Palace here on Monday.
He noted that the targets will be regulated in a presidential instruction in accordance with the agreement reached during an internal meeting held at the Merdeka Palace on Monday.
The Health Ministry reported that in 2022, seven provinces with the highest stunting prevalence were East Nusa Tenggara, at 37.8 percent; West Sumatra, 33.8 percent; Aceh, 33.2 percent; West Nusa Tenggara, 31.4 percent; Southeast Sulawesi, 30.2 percent; South Kalimantan, 30 percent; and West Sulawesi, 29.8 percent.
Meanwhile, five provinces with the highest number of stunting cases were West Java, with 971,792 cases; East Java, 651,708 cases; Central Java, 508,618 cases; North Sumatra, 347,437 cases; and Banten, 265,158 cases.
On that occasion, Monoarfa reported that the piped clean water connections reached 3.8 million households as of 2023 from the target of 10 million households set in the 2019-2024 National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN).
To this end, he noted that the government has yet to provide 6.2 million piped water connections by 2024.
He noted that the budget needed is projected to reach around Rp16 trillion (around US$1 billion) for installing piped water connections to people's houses, while Rp1.2 trillion (around US$75.29 million) is required for meeting raw water needs.
He expressed optimism that the government would be able to meet at least 62 percent of the RPJMN target by 2024.
Related news: BKKBN evaluates stunting eradication program at border, coastal areas
Related news: VP believes target of lowering stunting prevalence is achievable
Related news: Stunting prevention efforts should start from pregnancy: minister
Translator: Andi F, Mentari D, Raka A
Editor: Azis Kurmala
Copyright © ANTARA 2023
