City should get govt funding: Councilor

City should get govt funding: Councilor

JAKARTA (JP): A councilor backed the administration's appeal
to the government to help fund the city's large projects.

Amarullah Asbah, secretary of the council's commission C for
financial affairs, said the government should immediately respond
to the appeal.

"The government should give more funds to finance mass
projects in Jakarta, it is the country's capital," Amarullah of
the ruling Golkar faction said yesterday.

He said as the capital, Jakarta faced more development
challenges than other provinces.

"We want to make Jakarta just like other countries capitals
and maintain national identity at the same time," Amarullah said.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja made the appeal at a council
executives' meeting, which approved the city's budget for
1997/1998 last week. The budget was Rp 3.23 trillion (US$1.3
billion), an increase of 5.18 percent over the last fiscal year.

In his appeal, Surjadi said some development projects here,
such as the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project, needed massive
funding.

Surjadi said the city needed special aid from the government
as stipulated in Law No. 11/ 1990 on the country's capital.

"Without the government's support, the process of accumulating
the funds to finance large projects would take a long time,"
Surjadi said.

Currently, he said, most of the aid given to Jakarta was still
at the same level as other provinces, such as the assistance for
education facilities and the development of health facilities.

One of the city's large projects is the Rp 4.2 trillion long-
awaited MRT project, which is expected to solve the city's
traffic problems.

The city has not found a way to raise its share of funds for
the project.

Another project is the 2,700-hectare Water Front City Project,
which will stretch 37 kilometers along the Jakarta Bay from Pluit
in the west to Cilincing in the east.

Contractors for the first phase of the waterfront city project
include PT Manggala Karya Yudha and PT Pembangunan Jaya.

PT Manggala, owned by President Soeharto's youngest daughter
Siti Hutami Endang Adiningsih, has bought 75 hectares. It plans
to invest Rp 1 trillion on 500 hectares. (ste)