Council blasts governor over drop in investment

Council blasts governor over drop in investment

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Councillors blasted the city administration for failing to
boost revenues as revealed by recent data from the Central
Statistics Agency showing that foreign direct investment in the
city fell precipitously by a staggering 93 percent from Rp 5.48
trillion (US$609 million) in 2001 to Rp 386 billion ($42.92
million) in 2002.

Khudri Hasbullah of the United Development faction said on
Friday that the shocking investment figures had hampered the city
administration's ability to provide jobs.

"This also shows that the city administration has its
priorities wrong, by catering to the needs of the city officials,
rather than stimulating economic growth in the city," he said in
a budget hearing between the city councillors and Governor
Sutiyoso.

Two other factions, the Justice Party (PK) and Crescent Star
Party (PBB) at the council also shared the criticism.

The city strategic planning for 1998-2002 stipulated that in
2002 the administration should have focused great effort on
developing businesses, creating employment and reforming the city
bureaucracy.

The city councillors, however, did not put all the blame on
the city administration for its failure to attract more
investment in the city.

The United Development Party (PPP) faction cited the Bali
terror attacks in October 2002 that claimed over 200 lives was
greatly responsible for driving investors away from the country.

By comparison, in 2002, the national figure of foreign direct
investment approvals -- excluding those in the energy and
financial sectors -- plummeted by 35 percent to $9.7 billion from
$15.06 billion in 2001.

Meanwhile, Abdul Aziz Matnur of the PK faction said that the
city administration fell short of boosting the rate of the city's
economic growth.

"The economic growth in 2002 was 3.87 percent, only 0.23
percentage point higher than 3.64 percent in 2001," Aziz said.

Economic growth this year has been forecasted to reach 4.62
percent.

Echoing his fellow councillors from PPP, Aziz said: "Slow
economic growth and low investment will not create new jobs,
while at the same time the city is still beset by more and more
unemployment."

He said that in 2002, around 560,000 people were unemployed in
Jakarta.

The councillors also highlighted the failure on the part of
the city administration to generate any significant profits from
the dozens of city-owned companies.

In 2002, profits earned by the city-owned companies reached Rp
43 billion far lower than the expected figure of Rp 64 billion.

The PPP faction also called on the city administration to
replace the incompetent directors of the city-owned companies
with people who were more professional.

"Fire those incompetent directors and establish a proper merit
and punishment system so that those companies can thrive," he
said.