Councils meet for new Banten province

TANGERANG (JP): Representatives from six regency and mayoralty councils in Banten met on Monday to formulate the regional decree and draft of the local budget for Banten, which was declared a new province, apart from West Java, last Wednesday.

The six regencies and mayoralties are Tangerang (mayoralty and regency), Serang, Lebak, Pandeglang and Cilegon.

"We'll set up an interim team to deal with the new administrative arrangement for Banten," Doddy Anshori of Tangerang regency council said.

"We'll further discuss the format of the gubernatorial election as well as listing the resources owned by Banten to set a draft on local budget and prospective revenue," he said.

Habib Ali Alwi, another councillor, expressed hope that the formulation of the decree, budget and local revenue projection would be in the people's interest.

"We're also discussing the cities suitable as Banten's capital city. Probably Serang will be the main city of Banten province. The second alternative is Tangerang, but we're still discussing it," Doddy added. (41/edt)