Minister of Housing and Settlement Areas Maruarar Sirait revealed a number of achievements and strategic policies in the housing sector that had been reported to President Prabowo Subianto during a limited meeting at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Tuesday, 21 January 2025. In a press statement, Mr Sirait reported on the progress of development in the Capital City of the Archipelago (IKN) and Kemayoran, as well as various pro-people policies in the housing sector.

Maruarar reported that the construction of 27 towers and several landed houses in IKN has been completed and is ready to be inaugurated in the near future. He also conveyed the progress of construction at the Kemayoran Athlete’s Village.

‘At the end of January, 3 towers in Kemayoran are ready to be inaugurated, 7 towers are ready to be inaugurated in April. Earlier I conveyed a proposal, could the President inaugurate directly at the end of April, that is 10 towers,’ said Maruarar.

According to Mr Maruarar, President Prabowo also gave a directive that housing policy should give top priority to low-income people (MBR). ‘Mr President’s direction to low-income people, also given the cheapest rent, then new to ASN, above that new commercial. So clearly the policy is asked to be pro-people,’ he said.

Furthermore, Maruarar emphasised that the Ministry of Housing and Settlement Areas in collaboration with several other ministries had designed concrete policies to help MBR. One such policy is the elimination of Building Approval (PBG) fees or what was previously known as IMB.

‘For PBG, it is 0 per cent, 0 rupiah, for low-income families. So far, it takes 45 days to process it. Now, we changed it to 10 days. Well, yesterday in Jakarta it could be around 17 minutes, in Sumedang around 1 hour, Tangerang also 1 hour,’ said Maruarar.

Maruarar also announced the abolition of the Acquisition Cost of Land and Building Rights (BPHTB) for MBR. However, he emphasised that this policy only applies to MBR with an income below Rp8 million per month.

‘This is only for low-income people. One of the criteria is that the income is 8 million and below. So this is clearly a pro-people policy, especially the small people,’ he said. (RU)

Source: Presiden Prabowo Subianto Tegaskan Kebijakan Perumahan Harus Pro Rakyat