Jakarta (VNA) - The Indonesian government will intensify labour-intensive infrastructure projects in different parts of Indonesia to offer employment to members of the low-income community to maintain their purchasing power amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
ANTARA quoted Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimoeljono as saying that manpower-intensive infrastructure projects are also aimed at boosting economic growth and distributing funds to villages and rural areas.
While implementing these labor-intensive infrastructure projects, the social distancing measures will consistently be imposed to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, he explained.
To this end, the Public Works and Housing Ministry will expedite the realisation of this year's labor-intensive projects, financed in cash, in 34 provinces across Indonesia.
With a total budget of 10 trillion rupiad, the projects cover seven programmes, including the Irrigation System Accelerated Program (P3-TGAI), Socio-Economic Regional Infrastructure Development Program (PISEW), and Reduced, Reused, and Recycled Waste Management Sites (TPS3R), he revealed.
Social Affairs Minister Juliari P. Batubara said the ministry has also readied special social assistance for economically vulnerable groups impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first aid package was prepared for vulnerable groups residing in Jakarta, which has imposed large-scale social distancing to contain the pandemic, the minister said.
The coronavirus disease has had negative impacts on almost all aspects in Indonesia. As a result of a huge decline in the occupancy rates, several hoteliers in Indonesia, for instance, had forcibly laid off or sent their workers home. Scores of Indonesian migrant workers have also begun returning to Indonesia.
According to the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, as of April 6, some 44,650 Indonesians in Malaysia had returned to the homeland./.
