JAKARTA, NNC – Minister of Village, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration (Mendes PDTT), Eko Putro Sandjojo said that his ministry has improved thousands of under developed villages into developing villages. Data shows there are around 20 thousand under developed villages in Indonesia according to the census data of potential villages in 2015.
Under the Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJM), the government targets to eradicate 5,000 under developed villages by 2019. But Eko says more than 5,000 villages have become developing villages.
“I’m sure we’ve managed to eradicate more than that,” Eko said as quoted by Antara, Monday (5/28/2018).
In this case, the Indonesia Statistics (BPS) is measuring progress in the villages. Currently, it is estimated that there are about 20,167 villages in the category of under developed. The government is committed to eradicate the underdeveloped villages through Nawacita which is to build Indonesia from the periphery through the strengthening of the villages.
As is known, the Village Fund was first given in 2015 with a budget amount of IDR20.76 trillion. The amount increased to IDR46.9 trillion in 2016, IDR60 trillion in 2017, and IDR60 trillion in 2018.
The Village Fund has been utilized to support the economy by building roads along 121,709 kilometers, 1,960 bridges, 5,220 village markets, 5,116 boat moorings, 2,047 water reservoirs, and 97,176 irrigation units.
The Village Fund is also used to improve the quality of life of the community with the development of Early Childhood Education (PAUD) by as many as 21,357 units, 13,973 units of women and children health center, 21,811 Village Owned Enterprises (BUMDes), sports facilities, and so on.
