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)