Governor struggles for approval of Rp 10b project
By Haryoso
SEMARANG (JP): Still nursing wounds from a dispute over the construction of his Rp 8 billion (US$3.3 million) mansion last year, Central Java Governor Maj. Gen. (ret) Soewardi is battling to secure Rp 10 billion for another building.
He wants the provincial legislative council to provide Rp 10 billion of tax payers' money to build an office for the local Retired Civil Servants Association.
Soewardi said the project was urgent and worthwhile because the public had to honor retired civil servants.
But his critics question the cost of the new building which they say is a waste of money because the association's office in northern Semarang is not fully occupied.
They suspect the proposed building on a prime 10,000-square- meter plot near the governor's office will be sold to private investors.
Environmentalists are also up in arms, alleging that the project will mean the destruction of a park which reduces chocking air pollution in the city of 1.6 billion people.
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and United Development Party (PPP) councilors have refused to approve the project because of its site and frequent changes to the proposed building's design and purpose.
Predictably, legislators from the dominant political grouping Golkar and the Armed Forces are eager to endorse it.
To break the deadlock, Golkar and Armed Forces councilors have threatened to put the project to the vote, a rare move in Indonesian politics, since they have the numbers to ensure an approval.
Undeterred, the PDI and PPP councilors have said they will vote against the project. Many are still upset by the construction of the governor's mansion last year.
"We will never endorse the project because we don't see the use," the leader of the PPP councilors, Thoyfoer, said yesterday.
Councilors who are members of the Moslem-oriented PPP believe the money would be put to better use by building schools and other facilities to alleviate poverty.
"Millions of people in Central Java are still illiterate," Thoyfoer said. "Wouldn't it be better to use the money to develop human resources?"
Councilors of the PDI, a nationalist and Christian alliance, say the project is odd.
"It's strange that retirees will run shops, cooperatives and all that business. They are supposed to relax and enjoy the rest of their lives," PDI councilor Rahati Soebeno said.
PDI councilors suspect the administration is colluding with a third party and the association to steal funds from the council.
Some local academics are also against the project.
City planner Koestomo from Soegiopranoto Catholic University said the project would make Semarang even more polluted and sweaty.
The park at the site has been dubbed the "lungs of the city". For decades, locals have used it as a place to relax.
"People will lose a city forest that absorbs pollution," he said.
City planner Eko Budiarjo from Diponegoro University had similar concerns.
But governor Soewardi remains optimistic that PPP and PDI councilors will eventually agree to his project.
"The building is an urgent priority. It will constitute our honor toward retired civil servants," he said.
He said the administration wanted to see retired civil servants looked after as well as retired members of the Armed Forces.