Council factions question budget allocations by city administration<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The city council questioned on Thursday the city
\nadministration's claim to have provided a greater allocation for
\ngeneral public spending under the 2002 draft city budget.<\/p>\n
In their general overview of the draft budget, the major
\nDemocratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and National Mandate Party
\n(PAN) factions unanimously demanded that the administration
\nelaborate on the exact amounts allocated respectively to general
\npublic spending and spending on the city's public servants.<\/p>\n
PAN doubted the administration's claim that the lion's share
\nof the draft budget was devoted to general public spending, the
\nfaction said in a statement read out by Wasilah Sutrisno.<\/p>\n
According to PAN, the major share of the 2002 budget was, in
\nfact, devoted to city operational spending, rather than general
\npublic spending.<\/p>\n
PAN said that operational spending accounted for 78 percent of
\nthe total budget of Rp 8.94 trillion, leaving only 22 percent for
\ngeneral public expenditure.<\/p>\n
PAN pointed out that in the 2002 budget, routine spending was
\nposted at Rp 5.56 trillion, or 63 percent of the total budget,
\nwhile development spending was posted at Rp 3.29 trillion, or 37
\npercent of the total budget.<\/p>\n
In his remarks to the council on Monday when presenting the
\ndraft budget, Governor Sutiyoso said that his administration
\nplanned to boost the popular economy, hard hit by the prolonged
\neconomic crisis.<\/p>\n
"General public spending will account for 61 percent of total
\ndevelopment spending, while the remaining 39 percent will go on
\noperational spending," he said earlier.<\/p>\n
This means that the administration is once again set to take a
\nchunk out of the development budget to its running costs.<\/p>\n
The PDI-P also questioned the drastic changes made by the
\nadministration to the draft 2002 budget, in which the allocation
\nfor general public spending rose significantly to 62 percent of
\nthe total budget from only 40 percent previously.<\/p>\n
According to the PDI-P, many allocations in the draft budget
\nneeded to be specifically and transparently defined in formats
\nthat clearly indicated which funds were intended for the
\noperational spending and which were destined for general public
\nspending as lack of clarity could result in corruption.<\/p>\n
"Our faction will restlessly press for the executive to be
\nserious about eradicating all forms of corruption, collusion, and
\nnepotism ...," it said in a statement read out by Totok
\nIsmunandar.<\/p>\n
The faction also criticized the city administration's handling
\nof social problems in urban areas. The efforts to resolve these
\nproblems, such as the eviction of squatters and forcible removal
\nof street vendors, are not only fruitless, but also a waste of
\nfunds, according to the faction.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/council-factions-question-budget-allocations-by-city-administration-1447893297",
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