REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia's housing backlog currently stands at 13.5 million houses, according to President Director of State Savings Bank (BTN) Maryono.

"That is the number of houses we need, but we can only construct 300-400 thousand houses annually," Maryono remarked during a seminar here on Wednesday.

He said the backlog indicates that the public's housing needs are very high.

"The demand is high, and now, the question is how investors or developers could meet the high needs," he remarked.

Of the 13.5 million houses needed, 6.5 million houses are considered priority as they are for people having no houses, while 7.2 million are for residents who have no permanent houses.

According to recent data furnished by the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing, Indonesia still needs 13.526 million houses.

Sumatra Islands needs 2,963 houses, Java requires 7,794 houses, Bali and East Nusa Tenggara 692 houses, Kalimantan 805, Sulawesi 950, Malauku Islands 139, and Papua 183 houses.

In the meantime, the state-owned housing company Perum Perumnas is expected to receive a fund injection after the Ministry of State Enterprises (BUMN) proposed an allocation of Rp2 trillion for state capital participation (PMN) in the 2015 draft state budget (RAPBN-P).

"Perumnas has set a target to build 400,588 houses until 2018," Rini Soemarno, the state-owned enterprises minister, revealed here on Monday.

Rini stated that in early 2015, Perumnas requires funding to finance the construction of low-cost apartments (rusunami) and subsidized and non-subsidized flats.

The houses comprise 232,848 vertical houses and 167,740 flats. Perumnas also plans to acquire 366.3 hectares of land for housing projects.

In the meantime, Vice President Jusuf M. Kalla urged Indonesia's urban population to accustom themselves to living in vertical housing complexes due to space constraints.

"In cities, space is limited, and so, the only solution is to live in vertical housing complexes to save space," Jusuf Kalla emphasized last year.

Due to the country's rapid urbanization rate, some 60 percent of its population is estimated to live in cities by 2020, he forecast.

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