City to stick with education budget

JAKARTA: Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo cold-shouldered a suggestion from the City Council that it should enlarge its budget for school renovations.

Fauzi said any change would mean the administration had to change the whole budget that the council had agreed to earlier this year.

"We'll listen to all suggestions from councillors, but we can't do anything about that," he was quoted as saying in the city's official news portal Beritajakarta.com during the weekend.

The budget for school renovations makes up only a small part of the Rp 2.82 trillion allocated to finance the city's prioritized programs, including the busway, the construction of the East Flood Canal, the development of waste treatment plants, as well as river maintenance, reforestation, and improvements in teachers' welfare. -- JP