PNPM IN BALI BUILDS HOMES FOR THE POOR

Denpasar, Sept 13 (ANTARA) - The national program of self-reliant community empowerment (PNPM) in Bali had managed to build 712 homes for the poor in eight regencies and in one city in the region.

"The houses had been built at a total cost of Rp6.74 billion," head of the Bali Agency for Community and Administrative Empowerment Ketut Gede Surawirawan said here Sunday.

He said the building of the houses had been carried out in stages in the past five years in the 2003-2008 period.

The Rp 5.40 billion allocated by the government had caused community self-reliance worth Rp1.33 billion, or 24.76 percent.

Most the government assistance comprised building materials, but the construction work is usually done by the people themselves on a mutual-assistance basis.

"The self-reliant construction usually had raised the normal construction cost, more than the assistance given," Surawirawan said.

He also said that the PNPM in Bali not only built homes for the poor but also some other projects to meet the daily and routine needs of the people, including roads, which had cost Rp89.8 billion, which managed to persuade community self-reliance worth Rp28.6 billion, or 31.83 percent.

The roads were built on a mutual-assistence basis in 1,091 locations in urban and rural areas in eigth regencies and in one city in Bali.

The roads that had been built has a total length of 1,330 kilometers.

Surawirawan said the construction of the roads was also coupled by the building of 50 bridges at a cost of Rp 4.5 billion, including from the PNPM Rp3.63 billion, community self-reliance Rp893.4 million, or 24.55 percent, Surawirawan said.