Funds for labor-intensive projects total Rp 25.14b

JAKARTA (JP): Official funds to finance labor-intensive projects, which will be conducted in the city after the start of the 1998/1999 fiscal year on April 1, total Rp 25.14 billion, an official said yesterday.

Deputy Governor of Welfare Affairs Djailani said Rp 8 billion of the total would be set aside from the 1998/1999 city budget and the other Rp 17.14 billion from the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) as stated in the 1998/1999 state budget.

"These labor-intensive projects will become a regular program, not just a pilot program like the one we've run over the past two months."

He said Rp 1.6 billion of the city budget contribution had been allocated for female workers.

Besides the official funding, the city also received donations from private companies to finance the projects.

Governor Sutiyoso has repeatedly said that he would make use of the Rp 2.4 billion donation from Citra Group, owned by President Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti Rukmana.

"We will use any existing funds, including the Rp 2.4 billion from Citra, to continue these labor-intensive projects after the pilot program is completed," the governor said yesterday.

Bappenas has recently disbursed another Rp 2 billion in addition to the initial Rp 4.25 billion for the city's program of labor-intensive projects.

Djailani said the Rp 2 billion fund had been distributed among the city's five mayoralties: Rp 300 million to Central Jakarta, Rp 300 million to East Jakarta, Rp 500 million each to West and North Jakarta and Rp 400 million to South Jakarta.

With the additional fund, between 9,000 and 10,000 workers can be employed on labor-intensive projects every day in each of the five mayoralties, up from 1,275 workers previously.

Djailani reiterated that the permanent labor-intensive program would be different from the pilot program.

"The city has to be creative and innovative. We can't stick only to programs like cleaning gutters or sweeping garbage because gradually we will run out of projects to work on.

"Therefore, the municipality is currently preparing a new form of labor-intensive project, one that is productive and meaningful to the people."

The arrangement will be worked out by a special team involving social experts and representatives of other related agencies, he said.

When asked about the huge amount of funds allocated in Jakarta (Rp 25.14 billion) compared to other provinces, Djailani said that it was standard procedure.

"Jakarta as the capital of this country has been burdened with complex social and economical problems. The unemployment rate (in normal economic conditions) here can reach up to 500,000 people per year.

"So imagine Jakarta's condition now. We are being hit hardest by the monetary crisis. No wonder we have a bigger fund ... because the rate of unemployment is very high."

The government has allocated Rp 1.8 trillion in the 1998/1999 state budget for labor-intensive projects in a bid to cope with the unemployment disasters which have hit the country over the past eight months.

The national program concentrates on reforestation, urban and rural sectors and drought-hit regencies, mainly in Irian Jaya. (edt)