Governor upbeat over city's future

Governor upbeat over city's future

JAKARTA (JP): Although acknowledging that Jakarta will have
its central government subsidy slashed once the regional autonomy
policy is implemented, Governor Sutiyoso expressed confidence on
Monday that the city could survive regional competition.

"The city administration still has opportunities, especially
when the central government will hand over the management of
several authorities, including the natural resources in the Pulau
Seribu (Thousand Islands) marine resort," Sutiyoso said,
referring to the chain of islands in Jakarta Bay.

He was speaking after a meeting with members of the House of
Representatives (DPR) Commission IX covering financial and
development affairs.

The meeting was intended to gather information on the city
administration's position on plans for the capital and its
efforts at stimulating economic recovery.

The director of exploration and production at the Ministry of
Mines and Energy, Kardaya Warnika, said last month that based on
Law No. 25/1999 on fiscal balance between the central government
and regional authorities, Jakarta would be allowed to collect 15
percent of oil revenue, while the central government would
collect the remainder.

Based on the estimation that oil companies operating in Pulau
Seribu could produce 18,000 barrels of crude oil per day, the
city administration would earn a total of $9.72 million a year,
Kardaya said.

A city councilor of the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction,
Tjuk Sudono, said two oil firms with offshore Jakarta operations
-- YPF-Maxus of Argentina and U.S. firm Arco -- could produce
more than 30,000 barrels per day.

Sutiyoso blamed the centralized development policy for causing
acute disorder in Jakarta through the concentration of big
business and industry in the capital, with attendant population
problems.

"The centralized development policy has attracted most of the
economic potential to Jakarta," Sutiyoso said at City Hall.

"When regional autonomy is fully enacted next year, other
provinces will simultaneously develop and will automatically
decrease urbanization in Jakarta."

Engine

Commission IX chairman Sukowaluyo Mintorahardjo said the city
administration had begun to establish a conducive atmosphere for
economic recovery.

"We hope that Jakarta will soon regain all of its services,
especially in the financial sector, which will become the engine
for the city's future economic recovery."

He said the city was still lacking in its services to the
public.

"The city administration must improve its public services to
city residents," he said.

"The bureaucratic aspects of public services must be
improved," he said, referring to the efficiency, value and speed
of its services.

A commission member of the Golkar faction, Ekky Syachruddin,
asked whether the city administration was considering a
"populist" economic policy.

"Such a populist economic policy will develop small-scale
businesses, not only big ones."

He said the city administration should not rely on donating
basic commodities or providing them at heavy discounts to the
poor.

Creating jobs is key to ending the cycle of poverty, he said.

"Market operations will help the poor for one or two days
only. The city administration should provide the poor residents a
place for them to earn their living."

Ekky recommended ensuring equal opportunities for small-scale
businesses to obtain bank loans.

"Are small entrepreneurs given the chance to get bank loans?
Or is it only the haves who have had access for the loans?"

Aberson Marle Sihaloho of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction said the city administration
had yet to fulfill its commitment to helping small-scale
businesses.

He was referring to paragraph 2, Article 27 of the 1945
Constitution, which stipulates that all citizens are entitle to
earn a decent living.

"If the city administration can't provide adequate workplaces
for them, why can't it legalize the status of street vendors?"

Sutiyoso responded that the city administration would allow
street vendors to operate in the city.

"We will allow the street vendors to operate, with several
limitations to avoid disorder in the city," he said. (05)