President Jokowi: Village Fund Boosts Economic Growth in Villages

President Jokowi at the 2022 National Gathering of APDESI in Jakarta, Tuesday (03/29). (Photo by: BPMI of Presidential Secretariat/Lukas)

In a bid to develop villages, the Government has distributed Rp468 trillion of Village Fund as of 2022.

To that end, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has ordered village governments to manage, utilize, and realize the fund optimally to boost economic growth in villages and eventually to boost national economic growth.

The President made the statement at the opening of the 2022 National Gathering of the Association of Indonesian Village Governments (APDESI Silatnas) at Istora Senayan in Jakarta, Tuesday (03/29).

“As of this year, Rp468 trillion has been distributed to villages. Do not consider this a small amount. This is huge. In the history of our country, villages have never been given a budget of Rp468 trillion. Therefore, be careful in managing this huge amount of money,” he said.

According to the Head of State, the hard work of village governments in developing villages can be seen evidently and the Village Fund has been utilized to build supporting infrastructures and improve the quality of life in villages.

“Minister of Home Affairs, Pak Tito, has stated that it has been used for village roads, retention basins, irrigations, bridges. Everything is clear, concrete. There is physical evidence. It will support economic growth in villages and be aggregated into national economic growth,” he said.

The President also underscored that the utilization of Village Fund can be concentrated on the construction of infrastructure that can enhance the productivity of rural communities, one of which is access to paddy fields or plantations, adding that 227,000 kilometers of village roads have been built with Village Fund.

“There are many roads in villages that have just been built and repaired. Do prioritize production roads leading to paddy fields, to plantations. Those should be prioritized. Retention ponds, irrigations, and so on, bridges, village markets, village-owned enterprises, boat tether, so many, I have checked one by one,” he said.

As for improvement of public life quality, Village Fund, the President added, can be used for construction of clean water infrastructures, integrated health posts, village birthing centers, drainages, wells, early childhood education, and facilities for bathing, washing, and latrine.

“It is also from Village Fund and it will improve life quality, human resource quality in villages,” he said, while underscoring that Village Fund should be prioritized to spur economy in villages, such as buying materials to build infrastructure or purchasing nutrition supplements in the village.

“That will support our people, people in villages. In the end, it will reduce poverty rate in villages. And it is already visible. Check the curve, it continues to decrease,” he remarked. (TGH/UN) (DH/EP)