Cilacap, C Java (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo distributed 2,550 land certificates to communities in four districts in Central Java province, namely Cilacap, Banjarnegara, Purbalingga, and Wonosobo.

He visited Pendopo Wilaya Kusuma of Cilacap district on Thursday to meet and submit the land certificates to the local communities.

Of the total of 2,550 certificates, 1,000 certificates were distributed to people of Cilacap, 500 certificates were received by people of Banjarnegara, 550 certificates were shared to residents of Purbalingga, and 500 certificates were distributed to people of Wonosobo.

Widodo emphasized the importance of ownership of land certificates for the people in the country as an effort to reduce the number of land dispute cases.

"It (certificate of land ownership) is very important to have it. After 72 years of independence, Indonesia has a total of 126 million parcels of land, but only 46 million parcels of land have been certified. There is still a lot of land parcels from Sabang to Merauke and from Miangas to Rote Island to be certified," he stated.

Therefore, he encouraged his staff, especially National Land Agency, to continue working hard to complete the target of 9 million certified lands by 2019.

"Because the people are waiting for this (land certificate), I do not want to wait anymore. After waiting for almost six years, certificate management of all land parcels in the country has not been completed," he stated.

He also advised the public to keep the land certificates well.

Widodo called on the community to take full account of the ability to pay so that the land certificate will not be confiscated for not being able to repay the loan if the land certificate is be pledged to the bank.

However, he supported the community's use of funds borrowed from the bank for productive purposes as working capital and investment.

On the occasion, he also reminded the public that the Indonesian nation was very diverse, with 17 thousand islands, 714 tribes, and more than 1.1 thousand local languages.

The community was also questioned on diversity, and those who could answer the questions could get a bike.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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