President Jokowi: All Parcels of Land in East Java to be Certified by 2023

President Jokowi hands over land certificates to the people at Ken Arok Sport Center, Malang, East Java, on Wednesday, (28/3). (Photo by: Rahmat/Public Relations Division of Cabinet Secretary).

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo expressed his optimism that in 2023 all parcels of land in East Java Province will be certified.

“In 2023, God Willing, all parcels of land will be certified,” President Jokowi said when distributing 5,153 land certificates to the people in Greater Malang area covering Malang Regency, Malang and Batu, at Ken Arok Sport Center, Malang, East Java, on Wednesday (28/3).

To achieve the goal, President Jokowi is targeting 5 million certified parcels of land in Indonesia by 2017, 7 million by 2018, and 9 million next year.

According to the President, only 52 million parcels of land are certified out of a total 126 million. The President also noted that in previous years only 400 to 600 thousand certificates were distributed every year, adding that it will take 160 years to certify all parcels if the Government does business as usual.

Therefore, the President has told Minister of Agrarian and Spatial Planning/Head of the National Land Agency (BPN) that he will dismiss the Minister if the Minister does not meet the target. The President further said that the Minister would also dismiss his subordinates who do not meet the target.

President Jokowi stressed that land certificate is very important to protect the land from false claims by others.

On that occasion, the President also told the recipients to keep their certificates well and to cover them in plastic to protect them from raindrops or rats and be copied so if and when they are missing, it is easy to process for the replacement at the BPN Office.

The President also reminded the certificate recipients to calculate well if they want to use land certificates as collateral of the banking loan, adding that they should seek low interest loans such as People Business Credit (KUR) program and should use the loan for productive things such as working capital or investment, not for consumptive things like buying cars or motorcycles.

Also present during the event were Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning (ATR)/Head of the National Land Agency (BPN) Sofyan Djalil, and East Java Governor Soekarwo. (RAH/ES) (RI/EP/Naster)