JAKARTA - The Minister of Transmigration (Mentrans) M. Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara stated that his party had submitted an official request to President Prabowo Subianto and coordinated with the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) to transfer the Transmigration Ministry (Kementrans) budget of Rp. 140 billion for disaster handling.
However, Iftitah said that the figure could still change because it was still waiting for further approval and direction from President Prabowo and the technical mechanism from the Ministry of Finance.
"We, with the permission of Commission V of the Indonesian House of Representatives (as a working partner of the Ministry of Transportation), have sent a letter to the President. In principle, the President accepted (the request for budget transfer)," he said as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, December 24.
He said that the budget that was planned to be transferred was in the form of the Additional Budget (ABT), so that the discretion for this was in the hands of President Prabowo.
While waiting for the President's instructions, Iftitah stated that his party had also communicated with the Ministry of Finance regarding the plan to transfer the budget.
"We have coordinated with the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Secretary General (Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance Edy Gunawan) directly who coordinates with the Secretary General of the Ministry of Finance (Heru Pambudi)," he said.
He said that the budget was planned to be transferred to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) to accelerate the recovery of disaster-affected areas in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra.
Regarding a number of transmigration areas in Sumatra that were affected by floods and landslides, Iftitah said that his party had not received instructions to relocate the transmigrants who were victims.
He explained that relocation was the domain of the Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning (PKP). However, the Ministry of Transportation ensured that it would revitalize the affected transmigration areas.
"Our focus now is that in some transmigration areas we will revitalize again those affected by disasters," said M. Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara.
BNPB noted that as of Tuesday (23/12), floods and landslides in three provinces in Sumatra had resulted in 1,112 people dead, 176 people missing, seven thousand people injured, and 498,447 people still displaced.
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