Ministry to blacklist underperforming housing developers

PERUMAHAN - JAKARTA. The Public Works and Housing Ministry said it would blacklist underperforming developers tasked with the development of subsidized houses -- a program launched by the government for low-income families.

The ministry’s financial planning director general, Eko D. Poerwanto, said in Bandung on Monday that members of the ministry’s team have been deployed to check a number of housing projects.

They found that many houses were constructed under the standards set out by the ministry, he added.

The ministry has stated that a subsidized house should be built on a 60-square meter plot of land with the floor measuring 28.8 sq m.

The house must have two bedrooms measuring 3 sq m by 3 sq m and 2.5 sq m by 3 sq m, respectively, and a 1.5 sq m by 1.2 sq m bathroom.

“It is regrettable that they did not perform well because the project is to help low-income households to own houses,” Eko said, adding that the government provided the subsidy to ensure that the houses were of a good quality.

He explained that as of December, 2017, the government had constructed 755,125 houses out of the earmarked 1 million houses.

Eko explained that this year, the government targeted to subsidize 267,000 houses with a total allocation of RP 6.09 trillion (US$442.74 million).

He said his office would collect data about the developers that have been involved in the housing subsidized projects.