DPR to conclude budget debates by Saturday
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
House of Representatives Budget Committee Chairman Benny Pasaribu said on Thursday that the crucial debate of the 2002 draft budget would be completed on Saturday, so that provincial and regency administrations could draw up their budgets on time.
According to Benny, leaders of all the factions in the House were committed to passing the budget bill into law on Oct. 23, just before the House begins their recess period.
"So, we cannot afford to have the completion of the debates later than Saturday," Benny said.
As of Thursday, the Budget Committee concluded discussions on all the items relating to state revenues.
The country's domestic revenue for next year is projected to reach Rp 297.9 trillion (US$30 billion), including Rp 184.7 trillion from taxes, an increase over previous projections.
The rise in the tax revenue target is seen as a consequence of the recently approved tax ratio increase to 13.03 percent from the initial tax ratio target of 12.08 percent.
On Friday, the debate will revolve around state expenditures, which the government has projected to be some Rp 343.1 trillion.
There has been widespread concern that the House would delay the deliberation of the 2002 draft budget until late November if they could not wrap up the debates before the recess period.
If that happens, all provincial and regency administrations would likely face difficulties in drawing up their budgets in a timely fashion as well.
Some provincial administration officials and legislators told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that they could not afford any delay.
"If that happens, this will surely disrupt development projects and civil servant salaries," said Sakhyan Asmara, spokesman for the North Sumatra provincial administration.
Hasrul Azwar, speaker of the North Sumatra provincial legislative council, added that deliberation of regional budgets depends on the state budget which includes the general allocation fund to be distributed to various departments throughout each province.
He predicted that the province's 2002 budget would be increased to Rp 1 trillion (US$100 million) from Rp 804.3 billion last year. The amount will include an estimated Rp 350 billion from a general allocation fund and Rp 400 billion in local taxes.
Abdul Kadir Karding, chairman of the National Awakening Party faction with the Central Java legislative council, warned that a delay in the national budget would not only disrupt various development projects in the provinces but also cause unrest among hundreds of thousands of civil servants.
"So, we urge the House not to delay endorsement of the state budget," he added.
Deputy speaker of the Yogyakarta legislature council Totok Daryanto agreed, saying that the delay would affect the approval and disbursement of the provincial budget, "but will not directly affect the provincial administration's daily activities."
"The provincial administration can still go on with its routines, especially its service functions, as the routine budget can just follow the previous rules," Totok told the Post.
East Java Governor Imam Utomo also called on the House to pass the budget bill into law by the end of this month.
Meanwhile, West Java provincial legislator Rasfani Akhyiar said that a delay in the approval of the budget would not affect the province.
"Our provincial budget does not depend on the state budget. We have a lot of sources for regionally-generated incomes, which are expected to reach Rp 2 trillion that is equal to its budget," he said.