City to submit 2003 budget to council this week<\/p>\n
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The city administration will soon submit the 2003 city budget,
\namounting to Rp 11 trillion (US$1.2 billion), to City Council, an
\nofficial said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\"We will submit the budget in the next one or two days so that
\nthe council can start discussing it next week,\" a financial
\nassistant to the city secretary, Makmun Amin, told The Jakarta
\nPost at City Hall.<\/p>\n
Makmun said that the General Allocation Fund (DAU) from the
\ncentral government and an increase in taxes had contributed to
\nthe Rp 11 trillion budget, which increased by about 13 percent
\nfrom this year's Rp 9.7 trillion budget.<\/p>\n
He said earlier that increases in mainly the vehicle, property
\nand hotel, restaurant and entertainment taxes, amounting to about
\nRp 4.5 trillion, had contributed the most to the budget.<\/p>\n
The General Allocation Fund will be increased from about Rp
\n600 billion this year to Rp 900 billion next year.<\/p>\n
A reported Rp 2.2 trillion from this year's budget was not
\nspent and will be carried over into next year's budget.<\/p>\n
Critics accused the city administration of poor budget
\nplanning, resulting in a large amount of money left over in the
\nbudget, while problems still plagued people.<\/p>\n
Critics said that even though the administration increased
\ntaxes, the city administration could not spend the fund properly
\non city development.<\/p>\n
The city administration earlier increased vehicle taxes from 1
\npercent to 1.5 percent of the vehicle's resale value.<\/p>\n
Admitting to poor budget planning, Makmun said the increase in
\nthe budget was also caused by funding restraints in other
\nprojects.<\/p>\n
He also said that several projects, such as the development of
\npublic parks, could not be executed because of an increase in the
\nprice of land, which could not have been predicted beforehand.<\/p>\n
The administration had announced that 30 percent of the 2003
\nbudget would be allocated toward administration costs while the
\nremaining 70 percent would go to public spending.<\/p>\n
Separately, head of the City Development Planning Office
\nRitola Tasmaya said that some Rp 65 billion of the 2003 budget
\nwould be allocated for land appropriation in the East Flood Canal
\nproject.<\/p>\n
\"Other projects which will be financed by the budget include
\nflyovers and dams,\" Ritola told The Jakarta Post on Thursday,
\nwithout mentioning the amount of funding for the projects.<\/p>\n
The development of the 23-kilometer canal is predicted to cost
\nRp 12 trillion and the administration hopes that it will be
\nmainly financed by the central government.<\/p>\n
After the recent floods which hit the city between January and
\nFebruary of this year, the government promised to finance the
\nproject, but so far, the total amount of funding has not been
\nannounced.<\/p>\n
The canal and the existing 15-kilometer West Flood Canal are
\nbelieved to be able to accommodate flooding from the city's 13
\nrivers and will also reduce floods.<\/p>\n
This year, the administration allocated Rp 50 billion for the
\nappropriation of 2 hectares of land for the project, which
\nrequires 230 hectares.<\/p>",
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