Having 447 Villages With Large Asset Values, North Kalimantan Has The Potential To Increase Income Sources For Community Welfare

Director General of Village Government Development, Ministry of Home Affairs, Yusharto Huntoyungo. (Photo: IST)

TANJUNG SELOR - Governor of North Kalimantan (Kaltara), Drs. H. Zainal A. Paliwang, SH, M. Hum., represented by the Head of the Village Community Empowerment Office of Kaltara Province, Edy Suharto welcomed the arrival of the Director General of Village Government Development at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Yusharto Huntoyungo in the context of handling village assets and increasing government motivation and commitment regions and villages to take inventory and record assets owned.

"Until now, about five percent of villages throughout Indonesia have registered their assets and have reported them to us with a value of Rp. there are 32 villages with a value of Rp. 143 billion," said Yusharto in his statement, Monday, June 27.

With a total of 447 villages, according to him, Kaltara has assets with fantastic value and is a potential that can be actualized by the village government in increasing sources of income to improve the welfare of local communities. He gave an example of proper and efficient use of village funds after seeing Gunung Sari Village.

"Gunung Sari as a sample, I see that it is in accordance with the direction, how village funds should be allocated. We can see that the facilities built encourage the community to move," he said while looking at several facilities that were successfully developed by the village government.

Various activities other than sports can also be carried out such as arts and cultural events to raise the pride of the local community as a form of achievement.

"It can become a routine activity that can trigger tourism activities in the village," he added.

Regarding village funds, he said that villages that have good performance in government administration will be given incentives by the central government. "There are no poor villages, all have the same potential, what we need is creativity to actualize all existing potentials. North Kalimantan has many activities and activities that can ensure that the administration of the government goes well," he said again.

Meanwhile, the Head of Gunung Sari Village, Al Hakim expressed his gratitude for the provincial government's efforts to bring the village government director general to his village.

"There is a blessing for us. We have also conveyed about the progress of the village fund development which has been helping us which has been recorded as a village asset that has been used by the community and is rented out which is managed by the Village Owned Enterprise (Bumdes) and there is progress in the development of tourist attractions as well. It's still in the development stage because that's the things that the Director General of Pemdes wants to know," he said.

Accountability for each village fund budget used is carried out with great care by himself as a budget user.

"This form of responsibility is to asset developments that have been carried out so that after I finish carrying out my duties there will not be a problem later, whether it is BPKP, BPK or the inspectorate when it is registered as an asset," he explained.

In increasing his village's original income through tourism activities, he hopes that the director general of village administration can consider incentives for his village.

"Earlier, the director general said that next year there will be no direct cash assistance, so we have more room for developing tourism," he concluded.

The village fund, which has been actively promoted by the government of President Joko Widodo, has had many positive impacts in increasing the living standards of rural communities. This is in line with the vision and mission of the North Kalimantan Provincial Government to organize cities to build villages.