Indonesia to reduce size of cut-price homes
JAKARTA: A housing task force led by presidential adviser Hashim Djojohadikusumo has questioned a proposal to reduce the size of subsidised houses in the ambitious three million homes programme of President Prabowo Subianto.
Bonny Z. Minang from the task force said that Hashim, the president's younger brother, had said he had 'never heard of the downsizing plan or agreed to it'.
A leaked document revealed that the Public Housing and Settlements Ministry proposed reducing the minimum plot size for subsidised homes from 60 sq m currently to just 25 and shrinking the minimum building footprint from 21 to 18 sq m.
Bonny added that the task force was under the president's order to provide housing in line with the Indonesian National Standard and the World Health Organisation's housing guidelines.
The debate over the draft proposal has escalated, with some saying it undermined the standards for affordable housing, while others argued that an adjustment was necessary to address increasing land prices and house building costs.
Deputy Housing Minister Fahri Hamzah rejected the proposal in a statement last week, emphasising that the housing programme must adhere to the standards as set out by the Sustainable Development Goals. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
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