Pontianak Receives Award From Vice President For Lowering Extreme Poverty, Walkot Explains His Strategic Steps

The Pontianak area on the Kapuas River is connected by a bridge. (Between)

JAKARTA - The Pontianak City Government (Pemkot) received an award from Vice President (Wapres) Ma'ruf Amin for his achievements in reducing extreme poverty.

"The achievement of this success is from all levels of the Pontianak City Government who have committed, worked hard and consistently in serving the community so that the extreme poverty rate in Pontianak City can decrease," said Mayor (Walkot) Edi Rusdi Kamtono in Pontianak, West Kalimantan (West Kalimantan), Friday, November 10, quoted by Antara.

He explained that various efforts were made by the Pontianak City Government to overcome extreme poverty, such as infrastructure, road repair and environmental drainage, clean water connections for low-income people (MBR), handling communal sanitation, house renovation/bed renovation wc, direct assistance and community empowerment, especially in dealing with variables that are the benchmark for poverty.

"Environmental waste management and community empowerment include access to health insurance," he said.

Edi explained the strategic steps taken by the Pontianak City Government in reducing extreme poverty, one of which was through the assistance of surgical uninhabitable houses.

This uninhabitable house renovation stimulant assistance is intended for low-income people (MBR). Edi added that similar assistance has been disbursed by the Pontianak City Government for the umpteenth time through the Huni Uninhabitable House (RTLH) stimulant assistance program.

"The goal is to eradicate urban slum areas and improve people's welfare. This RTLH assistance is also part of the poverty alleviation program in Pontianak City," he said.

This assistance is sourced from the Pontianak City Budget 2023. This program will continue because there are still uninhabitable houses that have not been touched by the assistance of this program.

"Many people's houses have received this house renovation assistance, currently it is estimated that only 1,000 houses are uninhabitable," said Edi.

Poverty alleviation in Pontianak is also inseparable from community empowerment through increasing community skills and knowledge. These include coaching and skills training programs, such as entrepreneurial training, work skills and increasing financial literacy.

"This program aims to provide the education and skills needed by the community to get out of the cycle of poverty," he added.

The Pontianak City Government also pays serious attention to the underprivileged through social assistance programs (bansos). The social assistance program includes providing cash assistance, food assistance and health assistance to people in need.

"This program helps ease the economic burden on the poor, so they have the opportunity to be able to fulfill their daily needs better," he explained.

He also highlighted local economic empowerment as part of efforts to reduce poverty. In this case, his party also promotes and supports Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) by providing accessibility to the necessary financing and infrastructure.

For successfully reducing extreme poverty, it has succeeded in leading Pontianak City to an award for a city with good performance and receiving a fiscal incentive allocation for the current year of the 2023 fiscal year.