Tourism Minister Opens Housing Complex for Employees in Medan
Jakarta. Tourism Minister Arief Yahya officiated at the opening of the Wonderful Indonesia housing complex for employees of the Indonesian Tourism Academy in Medan, North Sumatra, on Wednesday (07/06).
The subsidized units are located on a 1.4 hectares in Desa Baru in Deli Serdang.
Ahman Sya, deputy for human resources at the Ministry of Tourism, reported that 48 of the 50 small houses that have been built are already occupied.
"We plan to build 150 houses in this complex and adding another 4 hectares next to it," Ahman said in a statement the Jakarta Globe received on Friday.
The site is located near Kualanamu International Airport and the Tourism Academy in Medan.
The complex is equipped by standard facilities, such as mosque, security posts, water wells, paving and a park and public open spaces.
Arief said he initiated the project to improve the welfare of the ministry's employees.
"Since leading Telkom Indonesia, I have always tried to find a way to increase employees' welfare," he said.
The minister since there was not enough money in the ministry's budget he could use to improve the welfare of his subordinates' welfare
"Which is why I had to think [of alternatives] to improve the welfare of Tourism Ministry employees," he said.
One solution is to cooperate with the property business to construct housing complexes for employees, especially those who have never owned a house.
"The employees will pay low installments for the houses and soon, the value of the land and the buildings will increase," Arief said.
The value of the land on which the complex is built has increased nearly 30 percent since it was purchased.
After the Deli Serdang housing complex, Arief will officiate the opening of another in Parung, West Java. The ministry bought the land and cooperated with developers to build the homes.
The houses are already sold out and the land value has increased more than 50 percent since last year.
"In Indonesia, property is still favored. The value of undeveloped land will increase 20 percent annually. This is what I call non-operational value. Moreover, if the land is used for business, its value will increase by an additional 5 percent to 10 percent annually," Arief said.
The subsidized housing complexes, are managed by the developer and financed by state-owned Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN).
Arief expressed his hope that the completion of the housing complex would inspire other regions.
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