City prepares draft bylaw on asset management

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)