Jakarta – The Manpower and Transmigration Ministry announced that it was ready to provide housing subsidies for 1,500 workers throughout Indonesia.

Each of these workers, according to Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar on Thursday, will get Rp 2 million (US$218) in various forms, including cooperative labor subsidies and social security dues, and will only be given to those workers wanting to own a house.

For the cooperative subsidies, the government has prepared additional subsidies to be given to 250 special cooperatives, with Rp 20 million to be given to each co-op. The social security dues will also include money for 8,000 workers who will get Rp 80,000 for the next eight months, the goal of which is to encourage informal sector workers to participate in government social security.

Muhaimin said that housing subsidies for workers had been ongoing since 2008. The goal, he said, was to accelerate housing construction for workers in industrial areas. The ministry is currently verifying the data of workers receiving the subsidies.

Muhaimin is also asking for private companies to assist in building workers' houses.

"The government has arranged for long-term strategic steps to ensure a decent standard of living for workers and laborers living in and around industrial areas," said Muhaimin as quoted by tempo.co.(png)