JAKARTA - The government through the Ministry of Finance has disbursed assistance funds from the state budget to support the recovery of disaster-affected areas in Aceh and Sumatra.
The assistance was distributed to 52 regencies/cities in three provinces, namely Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra. Each regency/city received assistance of IDR 4 billion.
Deputy Minister of Finance Suahasil Nazara said that the distribution of funds was intended to help local governments in dealing with the impact of disasters as well as accelerating economic and infrastructure recovery.
"The allocation of assistance for local governments that has been submitted for 52 regencies/cities and also three provinces has been disbursed," said Suahasil in a press conference at the Ministry of Coordinating Economic Affairs, Tuesday, December 16.
In addition to distributing assistance, the Ministry of Finance also provides ease of transfer mechanisms to the region (TKD) for local governments affected by disasters in Aceh and Sumatra. One of them is by simplifying the requirements for the distribution of funds so that assistance can be immediately received and utilized.
Suahasil explained that the government removed a number of administrative requirements or channel requirements so that the distribution of TKD was not hampered by the bureaucratic process.
"We understand that the local government affected by the disaster is certainly facing difficulties. Therefore, our channel requirements are simplified so that the transfer to the region can be more practical and automatic," he said.
The Ministry of Finance also pays special attention to local governments that still have loans from the national economic recovery program (PEN), especially those used for infrastructure development.
The government will conduct a thorough assessment of the condition of infrastructure financed from the PEN loan to assess the level of damage due to disasters, such as floods and landslides.
"If the infrastructure can still be used, it will be considered for restructuring. However, if it cannot be used because it is severely damaged, we open the option of simplification to loan write-off," said Suahasil.
The handling of the PEN loan will be carried out with strict governance and involve PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur as the financing manager. This step is expected to help the region recover faster without adding fiscal burden after the disaster.
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