Jakarta. President-Elect Prabowo Subianto, who will soon start leading the country next month, has set an ambitious goal of building 2 million houses in Indonesian villages annually during his presidency.

The exretired army general also wants to build 1 million apartment units in cities annually, according to Prabowo’s younger brother and Gerindra Party’s advisory board deputy chairman Hashim Djojohadikusumo. 

These ambitious programs are in response to the lack of adequate housing for Indonesians across the archipelago. Hashim reported that almost 11 million Indonesian families were still waiting for proper housing. The country also has 27 million houses that Hashim classifies as “unfit for living”, meaning that they lack access to clean water and electricity.

“People are skeptical and doubt whether we will be able to achieve this program. Let me tell you, it is possible because the funding will be there. We will build these houses,” Hashim, who also chairs Golden Indonesia Community Forum, said in Jakarta over the weekend.

Hashim claimed that he had flown to China and Qatar to meet potential investors for this program. He claimed that Chinese investors were “ready to build houses for the people in need in Indonesia.”

The politician admitted that land acquisitions would be a major challenge in this program. In response, the government would use the land belonging to the Jakarta provincial government-owned market management company PD Pasar Jaya. The government will transform 153 markets under Pasar Jaya into market-housing complexes. 

According to Hashim, the program would be beneficial to the economy. The property sector can be a major growth driver. As a case in point, the construction and property sectors represent 25 percent of China’s gross domestic product (GDP). 

“[The property sector] makes up 14 percent [of Indonesia’s GDP]. This program will boost the sector’s contribution to 25 percent. We are very optimistic about that,” Hashim said.

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