Jakarta. Every member of the House of Representatives (DPR) can be entitled to Rp 70 million ($4,451) in house allowance per month as the official residential complex will be fully vacated by the end of this month, DPR Secretary-General Indra Iskandar said on Monday.

Indra said the available government-owned houses will be returned to the Finance Ministry due to structural damages and it’s more efficient to provide house allowances than to repair around 600 houses for lawmakers.

"If we look at provincial legislatures in other places, the house allowance averages from Rp 35 million to Rp 40 million. However, property prices in Jakarta are certainly much higher," Indra said during a visit to the Kalibata housing complex in South Jakarta.

The DPR Secretariat plans to hire independent appraisals to estimate residential costs in the city that will become reference for the house allowance proposal, he added.

Indra said most houses in the Kalibata complex are in poor condition with irreparable structural damages such as cracks on the walls. 

"We conducted massive repairs in 2008 and 2010 but they didn’t really make a difference. The structural damages are so bad they cannot be repaired," Indra said.

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