West Java governor admits failure to achieve targets<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung<\/p>\n
West Java Governor Nuriana has confessed that West Java under his
\nadministration had failed to achieve its seven development
\nprogram targets in fiscal 2002.<\/p>\n
Among the development targets his administration had failed to
\nachieve were controlling inflation, increasing economic growth
\nand investment, more effective poverty eradication and an
\nimprovement in the human development index (HDI).<\/p>\n
Nuriana made his admission during a plenary session of the
\nprovincial legislative council as the end of his second term in
\noffice approaches. Nuriana presented his progress report for
\nfiscal 2002 on Wednesday, while his term will end in June.<\/p>\n
In his speech, the governor admitted he had been unable to
\nlower the unemployment rate to 840,000 as envisaged in the 2002
\nprovincial strategic plan. In fact, the number of jobless
\nincreased to 1.4 million from one million in 2001.<\/p>\n
"The soaring unemployment rate was due to frequent labor
\ndismissals and a small increase in job openings, which was not
\nenough to absorb the expanding labor force," Nuriana explained.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, West Java's inflation rate last year stood at 11.97
\npercent, higher than the national projection of only 7 percent,
\nwhile investment totaled only Rp 34 trillion against the targeted
\nRp 45.5 trillion.<\/p>\n
In his speech, Nuriana attributed the investment downtrend to
\nthe number of investment projects approved by the central
\ngovernment, which had declined by 13 percent. "As regards
\ndomestic investment, West Java was only allocated 30 government-
\napproved projects," he added.<\/p>\n
Continued economic stagnation, according to the governor,
\nresulted in the failure to achieve the region's 4.06 percent
\neconomic growth target for 2002. Growth eventually came in at
\nonly 3.9 percent. As part of a domino effect, the HDI rate also
\nshowed no significant improvement.<\/p>\n
The provincial HDI still registered 67.45 in 2002, far below
\nthe level of 70.89 set for that year. Consequently, the quality
\nof human development in West Java ranked 15th out of the
\ncountry's 30 provinces.<\/p>\n
In fact, with its local budget totaling over Rp 2 trillion,
\nWest Java should be one of Indonesia's wealthiest provinces, in
\nline with its aim of becoming the most advanced region in 2010
\nwith the HDI projected to reach 80.<\/p>\n
Members of the provincial council, however, refused to comment
\non the accountability report. "We will study it first and discuss
\nit in faction meetings to compare it with the concrete data
\nbefore deciding whether or not to accept it," said Rahardi
\nZakaria of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle.<\/p>\n
The council is scheduled to decide whether or not to accept
\nthe governor' progress report on April 7.<\/p>",
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