Council rejects Rp 1.6b promotion fund

Council rejects Rp 1.6b promotion fund

KENDARI, Southeast Sulawesi: The South Sulawesi legislative
council rejected on Monday the provincial administration's
proposal to allocate Rp 1.6 billion in funds for investment
promotions to the Netherlands in April.

"Promotion is important, but I think it will only waste the
money if we should earmark Rp 1.6 billion from the province's
budget for this propose," La Ode Ate, a member of the council's
commission A told a hearing on the budget.

He said such a sizable amount of money would better be used in
other development sectors that needed to be urgently dealt with,
particularly those related to the people's economic empowerment.

La Ode argued that the province had frequently launched costly
promotional activities in several other countries, including
Singapore, China, New Zealand, the United States and Europe.

"But the results have been nothing. The proof is no single
foreign investor investing in Southeast Sulawesi. If there have
been overseas investors expressing their intention to do so, it
is merely an empty promise." --Antara