Indonesian Minister for Domestic Affairs Gamawan Fauzi said on Wednesday that housing construction must provide full attention to environmental balance in minimizing risks.
"I just want to remind us all, especially local governments, to pay attention on environmental balance as there were many accidents related to disasters that occurred as we might forget to anticipate risk while constructing houses," said the minister in his opening remarks of a coordination meeting on public housing.
Therefore, he said, in order to minimize disaster risks, utilization consistency on spatial planning must be maintained.
"The key word in this issue is synergy in potential, capacity and resource owned by all stakeholders," he said, adding that synergy between local and central governments would be an absolute condition for an optimized housing development.
Therefore, he said, there should be no programs from central government that are not in line with local development planning.