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)