Padalarang, West Java (ANTARA News) - Villages, Disadvantaged Regions Development and Transmigration Minister Marwan Jafar has set a target to provide internet access to five thousand villages this year.

"I am developing online villages, and there will be five thousand of them this year," the minister affirmed here, recently.

He is optimistic that the target can be achieved despite funding problems.

"Time and again, there is no budget for it," he stated.

He emphasized that the government needs to promote internet connectivity in rural areas as currently, the number of online-based villages is small.

He hoped that the NGOs and the private sector could also support the online villages program.

"Some colleagues from NGOs and donor agencies are still working on a few projects, but it is not the government," he pointed out.

The objective of the online villages program is to facilitate communication and information to and from rural areas.

By providing internet connectivity, villages could obtain information from the Central Government easily, and the Central Administration could promptly access information about the villages.

(f001/INE)
EDITED BY INE
(U.SYS/B/KR-BSR/F001)

Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2015