REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, SEMARANG -- The development of low-cost rental apartments (rusunawa) is a must because land area for the construction of landed houses is increasingly limited, stated Public Housing Minister Djan Faridz.

"If we allow the development of landed houses to go ahead, our land area will continue to reduce," the minister remarked after opening a coordination meeting for preparing the development plans of Rusunawa II and Rusunawa III 2014 projects here on Monday.

Faridz pointed out that many developers were still reluctant to build apartments on grounds that they were not yet accustomed to developing flats, but this step must be taken because of the burgeoning population.

"The population continues to increase while land space remains the same. If this plan is delayed (and landed houses are built), we are afraid that we will have no more land left for rice cultivation," he added.

The government has planned to build 800 units of rusunawa this year and about 300 of them have been developed.

"The budget for the development of the rusunawa project is set at about Rp1.4 to Rp1.5 trillion. I hope that the next government will raise the budget to Rp15 trillion per annum," Faridz explained.

Faridz stated that if the government sets a budget of that amount, it will be able to build some 27 thousand units of rusunawa across the country.

The minister has forecast that currently, Indonesia is short of 27 thousand units of rusunawa.

"Rusunawa is basically designed for civil servants, military or police personnel, and laborers. The government has not yet taken into account students from Islamic boarding schools. Therefore, I hope that the government will start paying attention to them by allocating flats," the minister emphasized.

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