By: Dwi Saputri*)
The roofing program initiated by Prabowo Subianto aims to improve the quality of people’s homes while simultaneously improving residential areas to make them appear neater and more aesthetically pleasing. However, this policy goes beyond simply improving roofs; it also has a strong economic dimension. Roofing is promoted as an instrument for empowering local MSMEs and cooperatives in the production and distribution of roof tiles, thereby stimulating the people’s economy and creating new jobs.
Amidst the increasingly massive pace of development, the need for construction materials is no longer simply a matter of supply, but also concerns the direction of economic policies that favor local businesses. In this context, the idea of ”Roof Tileization” finds relevance as an instrument for empowering MSMEs. Roof tiles are no longer positioned merely as components of building roofs, but rather as production nodes that drive the people’s economic chain and a strategy for downstreaming the micro-scale construction sector.
The construction sector has often been perceived as the domain of large industries with strong capital and advanced technology. However, at its most basic level, this sector relies on thousands of small businesses, from roof tile craftsmen and brick manufacturers to local raw material processors, that support domestic market demand.
Over the past five years, the landscape of Indonesian household roofs has slowly changed. The 2025 People’s Welfare Statistics data released by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that the use of roof tiles as the primary roofing material has decreased. In 2020, the percentage remained at 55.97 percent. However, in 2023, it dropped to 55.26 percent, 54.94 percent in 2024, and then again to 54.24 percent in 2025. This decline is not drastic, but it has been consistent over the past three years.
Through the gentengization approach, the government can encourage a transformation from traditional production patterns to more integrated, productive, and value-added systems. With appropriate policy design, gentengization has the potential to create a resilient, locally based economic ecosystem. This program can encourage employment, improve the quality of community housing, and strengthen the national building materials industry structure at the micro level. Several ministries have expressed their commitment to supporting and overseeing the optimal implementation of the gentengization program.
Institutional support for this program also appears solid. The Ministry of Housing and Settlements has expressed its commitment to making roofing a part of efforts to create more decent, cooler, and higher-quality housing for the people. Minister of PKP, Maruarar Sirait, emphasized that this program is not a short-term aid, but rather a sustainability-oriented policy. MSMEs are encouraged to upgrade, industry is strengthened, and communities receive more comfortable housing, with a broad multiplier effect on the economy.
He also emphasized that the main challenge of this program lies in maintaining quality and production capacity, as the tiles produced are required to meet a minimum durability standard of 15 years, be resistant to heat and rain, and meet aesthetic standards, including through the development of flat models to support modern housing designs. To ensure product quality, the certification process by the National Standardization Agency through the Indonesian National Standard (SNI) will be facilitated by local governments.
Furthermore, Sri Haryati, Director General of Urban Housing at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, revealed that the roofing program has officially begun, with 52 houses in the Menteng Tenggulun area of Central Jakarta being pilot projects as an effort to improve densely populated residential areas. This initiative is the initial step in eliminating uninhabitable houses, optimizing sanitation facilities, and boosting the local economy through empowering MSMEs.
The Ministry of Industry has also implemented a follow-up to the gentrification program through policy reforms to ensure ease and availability of raw materials for small and medium-sized industries (SMEs). Minister of Industry Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita explained the policy reforms for the Raw Material and/or Auxiliary Material Supply Center (PPBB), regulated by Minister of Industry Regulation 21/2021 in conjunction with Government Regulation 46/2023, which allows SMEs unable to import independently to still obtain raw material supplies.
The reforms were implemented considering that the development of SMEs still faces a number of challenges, ranging from limited access to raw materials, technology, human resources, marketing, and capital.
Obstacles often encountered by SMEs in obtaining imported raw materials include limited local raw material supplies with specific specifications and standards, relatively small import volumes that make it difficult to meet import requirements, limited direct access to domestic producers, and the complexity of import licensing documents.
Ultimately, roofing should be understood as an integrated development strategy that connects the community’s basic need for adequate housing with the broader agenda of strengthening national MSMEs. With consistent quality control, ongoing technical assistance, and solid synergy between the central and regional governments, the ambitious goal of making Indonesia tidier, cooler, and more self-sufficient in the building materials industry is not merely an ambition, but a realistic agenda that can be achieved in a gradual and measurable manner.
)* The author is an observer of social and economic issues