City health budget down, infrastructure rises
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As a result of a greater focus on infrastructure development, the budget allocation for the health sector in Jakarta next year will significantly decline, but the overall budget will increase to Rp 13.83 trillion (US$1.53 billion) from Rp 12.63 trillion this year.
According to the draft of the 2005 city budget, the health and education sectors will together receive Rp 3.56 trillion or 25.8 percent of the total budget. This year, the two sectors received Rp 3.78 trillion, or 30 percent of the budget.
Chairman of the City Council's Commission E for health, education and people's welfare, Dani Anwar, said on Friday that the education budget would reach some Rp 2.83 trillion next year as compared to Rp 2.61 trillion this year.
It means the health budget for next year will decline to Rp 730 billion from Rp 1.17 trillion of the ongoing budget.
This decline seems to run counter to a statement made by the head of the Jakarta Health Agency, Abdul Chalik Masulili, who had said that the city would double the allocation for health care for the poor.
The agency's spokeswoman Evi Zelvino could not explain the reason for the decline, but did say that most of the divisions within the agency had not finished revising their respective budget requirements as of Friday.
"All of the officials are now working overtime to finish their reports. We will finish our updated reports next Monday. Sorry, I cannot explain more than that now. The figures on the draft budget may change," she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Meanwhile, the infrastructure sector will receive the largest allocation next year. The spending for that sector will increase to Rp 3.67 trillion, or 26.5 percent of the total budget from Rp 2.73 trillion this year.
Most of the money for the infrastructure sector would be spent on what are termed "dedicated programs".
The programs include the construction of busway corridors from Pulo Gebang in East Jakarta to Kalideres in West Jakarta via the National Monument (Monas) Park in Central Jakarta, the construction of the 23-kilometer long East Flood Canal and the establishment of garbage incineration plants.
The second largest allocation will be for the health and education sectors, followed by the administrative sector, the socio-cultural sector, the natural resources and environment sectors, the legal and public order sectors, the economic sector, and the population and manpower sectors.
The allocation for the administrative sector will increase to Rp 3.5 trillion from Rp 3.06 trillion this year because the city plans to carry out pilot projects for public services in 50 subdistricts and 10 districts.
The subdistricts and districts selected for the pilot projects, will receive an additional allocation of Rp 1 billion each.
Budget spending comparisons for 2004 and 2005:
No. Sectors 2004 (Rp billion) % 2005 (Rp billion) %
1. Legal and Public Order 777.83 6.2 641.14 4.6
2. Administrative 3,062.11 24.2 3,500.61 25.3
3. Economy 460.17 3.6 474.89 1.3
4. Education and Health 3,784.45 30 3,564.06 25.8
5. Population and Manpower 167.44 1.3 186.59 1.3
6. Socio-Cultural 985.55 7.8 949.34 6.9
7. Natural Resources and Environment 658.90 5.2 848.02 6.1
8. Infrastructure 2,733.59 21.6 3.673.81 26.5
Source: draft of the 2005 city budget