Cooperation Agreement Between Tzu Chi Indonesia and Regional Government of Palu

Vice head of Tzu Chi Indonesia Sugianto Kusuma and Mayor of Palu Hidayat sign the cooperation agreement on housing development for residents of Palu on Saturday, February 2nd, 2019.

The Indonesian Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation and Regional Government of Palu has signed a cooperation agreement on permanent housing development of Tadulako Loving Home Complex and the Economic Zone of Kaombana, Palu. This permanent housing will be built for victims of earthquake, liquefaction and tsunami that happened September 28th, 2018 ago in Palu City.

The signing took place at Tzu Chi Center, Pantai Indah Kapuk, Jakarta on Saturday February 2nd, 2019. This activity is a series of post-disaster restoration programs held in Central Sulawesi (Palu and Donggala) and West Nusa Tenggara (Lombok), a collaboration between Tzu Chi Indonesia, Eka Tjipta Foundation (ETF) and Indofood.

The purpose of this cooperation agreement is to prepare the land and to develop a proper housing for natural disaster victims of Palu. This cooperation agreement is signed by Hidayat as the Mayor of Palu, Sugianto Kusuma as Vice Head of Tzu Chi Indonesia, Stephen Huang as the CEO of Tzu Chi International, and Laksda TNI Agung Prasetyawan as General Planning Assistant Commander of TNI.

In the first phase, 1,000 units of type-36 permanent housing will be built in Tadulako Loving Home Complex. Later, the housing complex will be equipped with public facilities such as schools, mosques, sports venues, playgrounds.

The signing is a series of post-disaster restoration programs held in Central Sulawesi (Palu and Donggala) and West Nusa Tenggara (Lombok), the result of collaboration between Tzu Chi Indonesia, Eka Tjipta Foundation (ETF) and Indofood.

Vice head of Tzu Chi Indonesia, Sugianto Kusuma, said that with the signing of this cooperation, the housing construction will soon be implemented in the next two weeks. He hopes that by building houses along with proper facilities, the lives of Palu residents will quickly recover. "To be able to live normally once again so that everyone in high spirits, Palu must rise," he said.

Sugianto added, the construction will attempt to use locals for the labor, especially residents who will live in the housing. So that residents have activities to do and can also earn an income.

Whereas the Mayor of Palu, Hidayat said he is very grateful for the progress of the plan to build houses for his citizens.

"Our priority is for our people to have a home soon," Hidayat concluded.

Translated by Ilena Sevalona