Council approves revised city budget

JAKARTA (JP): All factions of the City Council have approved the revised city budget of Rp 8.14 trillion (US$856.8 million) for 2001, an increase of 8.6 percent from about Rp 7.5 trillion approved last December.

Some Rp 5.51 trillion of the budget will be allocated for routine expenditure, while the balance will be for development expenditure.

The new budget does not appear to accommodate much in the way of public interest, as there is not much increase in the budget allocated for public welfare.

The public welfare sector will receive Rp 81.7 billion, an increase of 4.7 percent from about Rp 78 billion last year.

Under this budget sector, the city administration decided not to increase the fund of Rp 625 million for improving the social welfare of the urban poor.

The budget also allocates Rp 4 billion to buy land for the development of small shops for small businesses and street vendors.

Some Rp 3.1 billion has been assigned for the governor's operational costs, a decrease of 48.4 percent from Rp 4.6 billion last year. For the maintenance cost of the governor's official house it has allocated Rp 630 million, an increase of 31.25 percent from Rp 480 million last year.

The increase of funds allocated for the official house maintenance is to adjust to the rise in water, electricity and telephone rates.

There is also a decline in the budget allocated for the public garbage service, from Rp 10.3 billion to Rp 8.4 billion despite the city's urgent need for handling waste.

The public security sector will only receive Rp 45.4 billion while the budget for special subsidies of the city administration will get Rp 55.7 billion.

For education, the city administration has provided Rp 209.6 billion in this year's budget.

Fire fighters will receive Rp 3.4 billion to purchase 500 water hoses and 200 fireproof jackets to help improve the fire department's performance.

The city administration has also increased the budget allocated for the establishment of an Islamic Center in Kramat Tunggak, Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta, which used to be a red- light district.

In Thursday's hearing, the Golkar faction warned that the construction process should be handled with care and continuous supervision, as they had received reports of some irregularities in securing the land for the construction of the Islamic Center.

"The city administration should handle it (Kramat Tunggak) carefully as we've heard that dirty tricks had been practiced in clearing the red-light district to secure the site of the Islamic Center," said Ade Surapriatna, during the council's plenary session. (06)