Council approves revised budget
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After admitting the administration performed poorly in the first half of the year, the City Council approved a revised 2003 city budget of Rp 11.563 trillion (US$1.3 billion) on Monday.
All 11 of the council's factions, who earlier criticized the administration for spending less than 25 percent of the budget in the first semester of this year, endorsed a budget increase of Rp 576.942 billion.
The spokesman for the United Development Party (PP) faction, Arifuddin Halking, said all of the city's agencies had to improve their performance after only making use of 25 percent of the budget allocation in the first semester.
"The PPP faction is worried by the meager spending, as it could have a negative impact on the realization of the budget in the second semester," said Arifuddin during the council's plenary session.
Dani Anwar of the Justice Party faction expressed particular concern that just 20 percent of the money allocated for environmental programs had been spent.
"We are very concerned by this because it could cause budget leakage in the remaining term, which is only about four months long.
"So we ask the administration to be careful in spending the money and to avoid any kind of KKN," he said, using the acronym for corruption, collusion and nepotism.
With so much of the budget left unspent last semester, city officials could be tempted to increase spending in the current semester without proper prudence.
The revised budget, an increase from the Rp 10.9 trillion budget passed in January, runs a deficit of Rp 2.062 trillion. The budget calls for Rp 11.563 trillion in public and routine spending, while it lists the city's revenue at Rp 9.49 trillion.
This deficit will be covered by last year's budget surplus of Rp 2.062 trillion.
Much of the Rp 9.49 trillion in revenue will come from taxes on vehicles, hotels and restaurants, as well as outdoor advertisements. The dozens of city-owned account for less than 10 percent of the revenue.
The approved budget contains several controversial allocations, including the Rp 9.6 billion for overseas trips by councillors.
Urban development experts have criticized the administration for proposing an increase in the budget despite its failure to make proper use of the budget in the first semester of the year.
The critics also said it was regrettable the budget was deliberated in closed-door sessions between city officials and councillors, with no public participation.
They also said it was deplorable the councillors allocated Rp 9.6 billion to finance their overseas visits while at the same time cutting the budget for the fire department from Rp 201.5 billion to Rp 184.3 billion.
2003 revised budget
A. Revenue
1. Regional income Rp 4,928,704,552,000
(Addition) Rp 266,977,810,000
2. Central government-city
shared fund Rp 4,557,962,162,000
(Addition) Rp 296,324,331,000
3. Other official income Rp -
(Addition) Rp 3,231,246,000
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Total Rp 9,489,897,960,000
(Addition) Rp 566,533,387,000
B. Expenditures
1. General administrative
expenditures Rp 3,616,956,636,000
(Addition) Rp 206,197,140,352
2. Operational, maintenance,
public infrastructure
expenditures Rp 4,199,606,301,523
(Addition) Rp 436,691,623,775
3. Capital expenditures Rp 3,099,478,149,221
(Addition) Rp 176,837,228,000
4. Transfer expenditures Rp 555,147,621,000
(Addition) Rp 152,053,884,000
5. Extraordinary expenditures Rp 91,740,122,404
(Addition) Rp 17,557,117,577
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Total Rp 11,562,928,830,150
(Addition) Rp 576,942,713,150
Source: 2003 Revised City Budget