President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo symbolically distributed about 2,700 land certificates to people in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), at the Nurul Bilad Mosque in the Mandalika special economic zone (KEK), Central Lombok on Friday.

The move was part of Jokowi’s ambitious agrarian-reform program, which aims to certify a total of 126 million hectares of land in the country.

Jokowi insisted that the program should be able to not only reduce land conflicts but also help people boost their productivity using the land.

“Often people use the certificates to get a loan from the bank. That’s okay but please calculate whether you can pay the installments,” the President said.

Jokowi has held such symbolic land-distribution events across Indonesia on numerous occasions.

“Use the loans to start a business or for investment. You can buy a car but using the profits generated from the business. If you use the loan to buy a car straight away, you could lose your land certificate in six months,” Jokowi said.

The Jokowi administration is planning to issue a total of 5 million certificates this year. The target will increase to 7 million next year and 9 million in 2019.

Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister Sofyan Djalil said the government had a target of issuing 115,000 land certificates in Lombok and Sumbawa.

Ahmad Djalaludin from Jago village said he was happy the farming land he had got from his parents could finally be certified. “I will propose a bank loan to improve my agriculture business." (bbs)

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by Panca Nugraha

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