Agency questioned about money usage

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The City Council has accused the City Transportation Agency of intending to wrongfully use Rp 8.4 billion earmarked for the purchase of boats for the Seribu islands to finance the renovation of seaports in the islands.

A member of City Council Commission D for development affairs, Amarullah Asbach, said that projects mentioned in the city budget could not be changed without consultation with the City Council as they were jointly decided by the executive and the council.

"If money is allocated for the procurement of boats, it cannot be used for developing seaports. That could be construed as fund manipulation," Amarullah said at a hearing with officials of the City Transportation Agency on Monday.

Amarullah was commenting on the project report of the City Transportation Agency presented during the hearing.

In the city budget, the Rp 8.4 billion was allocated for purchasing vessels for sea transportation in Seribu islands regency. But in the progress report, the money was used for upgrading seaports on Kelapa and Lancang islands.

Amarullah said the City Council would question the use of the money in the annual progress reports of the city budget implementation.

"The City Council may annul any agency's projects not mentioned in the city budget," he added.

The 2002 city budget allocates Rp 106.904 billion to the City Transportation Agency. The busway project will take up Rp 51.82 billion of the allocation.

Responding to Amarullah's complaint, the head of the city transportation agency, Rustam Effendi, said a mistake had been made in the report presented to the City Council on Monday.

"My staff made a mistake. The truth is that the money will still be used for purchasing boats," he said

Amarullah, however, questioned Rustam's statement, saying an official could not claim it was a mistake when the report had already been presented to the City Council.

Other issues raised by legislators during the hearing included the lack of process in the construction of the busway, which is scheduled to be operational in October, and the controversial development of the Pulo Gebang bus terminal in East Jakarta.