City rapped for hiking budget but ignoring public interests
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration was rebuked on Wednesday for trying to squeeze more money out of the public by increasing taxes while at the same time being incapable of spending Rp 2.1 trillion of the Rp 9.7 trillion 2002 City Budget on projects that would benefit the public.
"They only think about how to make money from taxes, but they don't know how to use it the money in the public interest," Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) chairwoman Wardah Hafidz told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
The UPC and a number of non-governmental organizations (NGO) grouped in the NGO Alliance for Budget Transparency (KOTA) previously sued the Jakarta administration and the City Council over the 2000 City Budget. But the court rejected the lawsuit.
Wardah viewed the city administration as being a stranger to proper planning. Instead, they only planned how to spend public funds on projects proposed by city offices and agencies, and how to make money from the projects.
She also predicted that the majority of city councillors might at first reject and protest the project proposals contained in the budget, but would finally accept the budget after having been paid off.
"So, we should not expect the councillors to urge a review of the budget. The public has to protest directly about the budget," she asserted.
The city administration on Monday announced that the 2003 Budget would amount to Rp 10.6 trillion, including Rp 2.1 trillion left over from the 2002 budget.
It claimed that 30 percent of next year's budget would be used to cover the cost of running the apparatus while the remainder would be used for public spending.
Finance Assistant to the City Secretary Makmun Amin said on Wednesday that some Rp 700 billion of the Rp 2.1 trillion originated from this year's revenues, while the remaining Rp 1.5 trillion, or 13 percent of the 2002 budget, consisted of unspent development allocations.
He said the increase in revenue under the 2003 budget was unavoidable as some of it was due to tax hikes, which were the responsibility of the central government, while the increase in the number of vehicles here had also contributed to the rise in revenue.
The administration has predicted it will receive Rp 4.5 trillion in revenue next year, mostly from vehicle taxes, land and property taxes, and hotel, restaurant and entertainment taxes. It also expected to receive Rp 4 trillion in general allocation fund payments from the central government.
Separately, councillor Muhayar of the Justice Party also criticized the administration over the unspent money.
"It shows poor management by the city administration," said Muhayar, who is also a member of the council's Commission D for development affairs, on Wednesday.
He blasted the administration for the slow tender processes involved in many of the projects and inaccurate estimates for land appropriation, which had caused the failure to carry out the projects.
Many projects, such as Governor Sutiyoso's much-touted busway project and land appropriations for the East Flood Canal project and public parks, could not be realized this year.
The administration plans to submit the 2003 budget early next month to the City Council. The councillors are expected to approve the budget in January next year at the latest.
In previous years, the councillors often criticized proposed budgets and promised to reject certain projects, but always ended up giving their approval after the projects were "explained" by the administration, and sweeteners in the form of even more facilities and allowances were promised to them.