City prepares draft bylaw on asset management

JAKARTA (JP): Head of the City Supplies Office, Dadang Ruskandar, said on Tuesday that the city administration was ready to submit a draft bylaw on city asset management as requested by the City Council.

"The city administration has prepared the draft bylaw and Governor Sutiyoso will review it in March before submitting it to the City Council in April," he told reporters at City Hall.

"We welcome the City Council's initiative to prepare a draft bylaw of its own. We (city administration and city council) can deliberate both drafts to get a better bylaw," he said.

Dadang said the city currently has total assets of more than Rp 66.55 trillion (US$ 887 million).

"The amount fluctuates as we write off old assets or accept new ones," he said.

"There are 18 types of assets, including animals, books, bridges, buildings, heavy equipment, medical equipment, and plots of land," he added.

The official said the city administration's draft bylaw had 14 chapters and 48 articles to cover aspects of authority and responsibility, planning and procurement, maintenance, management by third parties, control, legal status and legal actions, etc.

"Until now, the supply office has registered all city assets without any basis in law for keeping them. This draft bylaw will provide a legal basis for such actions," he said.

The City Supplies Office now will start to impose legal actions against asset embezzlement based on the list provided by Dadang's predecessors. "We'll start with the city assets registered in the 1990s."

Dadang said the draft bylaw would enable the city administration to cooperate with other agencies to manage the assets.

Councilor Amarullah Asbah of the Golkar Party announced on Monday that the city council would soon submit a draft on city asset management.

Good news

Of Dadang's announcement, Amarullah said it was good news to hear the city administration had already prepared its draft bylaw.

"It shows that the city administration and the city council have the same perception on city asset management. It's fine if they (city administration) are better prepared than city councilors," he told The Jakarta Post by phone.

"The most important thing is that the city administration will have the bylaw for the current fiscal year," he added.

Dadang said his office had asked the City Mapping Agency to draw a map of the city assets, in a move to better manage the assets.

"The agency is currently drawing a map for all subdistricts in South Jakarta. We'll have maps for all mayoralties by next year," he said.

He said the city currently has 11,120 plots of land worth more than Rp 35.9 trillion.

"We have certified only some 2,500 plots. City Secretary Fauzi Bowo has instructed the City Supplies Office to certify all the plots," he said, while citing that he would store all documents in a bank's safe deposit box to guarantee their safety.

Dadang said the draft bylaw, if enacted, would enable his office to pursue the city's property developers to fulfill their obligation to establish public and social facilities in their respective areas, such as bridges, roads, sports fields and schools.

"The developers have yet to transfer 2,200 items of such facilities to the city administration as per their obligations," he said. (05)