Jakarta. BP Tapera, the new public housing savings agency, has set a target to recruit 13 million members to its homeownership plan by 2024 as part of the government’s effort to increase the proportion of households living in decent residence to 70 percent of Indonesia’s total households.
The Public Works and Housing Ministry established BP Tapera in 2019 as mandated by the 2016 Law about Public Housing Saving. But the agency just became effective last month after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo signed a government regulation to greenlight its operation.
“We have mapped out the potential, and the committee has agreed that within the first five years, or until 2024, [we should have] 13 million members,” BP Tapera’s deputy commissioner Eko Ariantoro said during a teleconference on Friday.
About 151 million Indonesians, or just over half of the country population, are now living in urban areas, and the World Bank expected the ratio would increase to 70 percent in 2045.
The World Bank warned in a report last year that such rapid urbanization could leave many Indonesians struggling to access decent housing. It recommended the government implementing affordable housing policies to stem the problem.
BP Tapera will start with serving 4.2 million civil servants as its members, taking over the management of a similar housing saving scheme for the civil servants, Taperum-PNS.
Adi Setianto, BP Tapera commissioner, said the agency would focus on the transition of civil servants saving until 2021. During this period, the government’s subsidized mortgage program( FLPP) would also gradually move to Tapera.
Then between 2022-2023, BP Tapera would expand memberships to employees of state-owned (BUMN), region-owned (BUMD), and village-owned enterprises (BUMDes) as well the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police.
After that, the agency would start focusing on workers from private sectors. Entrepreneurs, informal workers, and foreign workers are also required to join the scheme.
The Scheme
Under the Tapera scheme, BP Tapera will collect 3 percent of the worker’s monthly income by the 10th day of each month and invest it in time deposits, government bonds or regional bonds, or real estate investment trusts in Indonesia or abroad.
The government regulation about Tapera also allowed the agency to invest in “other form of investments which is safe and profitable in line with the rules of law,” but did not provide elaboration.
Workers with low income — the agency currently defined them as those with a monthly income of between Rp 4-8 million — have been Tapera members for 12 months can apply for Tapera’s subsidized mortgage program.
Other workers who did not use the mortgagee facility would receive their funds in full with the accumulated interest or returns when their membership ends.
BP Tapera terminates workers membership when they retire or reach 58 years of age, die, or have been out of a job and do not receive any income for five years in a row.
