Govt urged to disburse general allocation fund payments soon
Govt urged to disburse general allocation fund payments soon
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
North Sumatra and East Java have both called on the central
government to immediately disburse their general allocation fund
(DAU) payments for December 2001 in light of the upcoming Idul
Fitri, Christmas and New Year holidays.
Soekardi, director of the East Java provincial
administration's finance section, said that so far there had been
no indication that the Ministry of Finance would make early
disbursement of the general allocation fund payment for the last
month of fiscal 2001.
"Unlike previous months, the general allocation fund payment
for December 2001 should be disbursed by the end of this month to
give the provincial administration adequate time to distribute
the funds to the regencies," he said.
Soekardi warned that any delay in disbursement of the funds
could cause unrest among the province's approximately 48,000
civil servants, especially those working in isolated areas of the
province.
"Civil servants and teachers working in isolated areas will
face financial difficulties in the mouth of the Idul Fitri,
Christmas and New Year holidays if their salaries are not paid on
time, or by the first week of December 2001 at the latest," he
said, adding that East Java needed around Rp 60 billion to pay
the salaries of its civil servants next month.
The central government has allocated Rp 449.50 billion from
the general allocation fund to East Java to finance development
projects and pay civil service salaries this year.
Abdul Gani Sitepu, director of the North Sumatra
administration's finance section, concurred and said that the
province had borrowed Rp 5.23 billion from the North Sumatra
Development Bank to help cover the cost of provincial civil
service salaries this year.
"For this fiscal year, the central government has allocated
only Rp 264 billion from the general allocation fund to the
province while we actually need a total of Rp 269.23 billion to
pay the civil servants' salaries and finance development
projects," he claimed.
He said the provincial government had sought other sources of
funding to cover the public sector wage bill following the
government's July 2001 decision to increase civil service
salaries.
Arlan Nasution, spokesman for the Medan municipal
administration, said the city would borrow around Rp 35 billion
from the North Sumatra Development Bank (BPDSU) to pay its 19,420
civil servants.
He said that following the July 2001 increase in civil
servants' salaries, the city government had only been able to pay
outstanding back pay to 1,735 of its civil servants due to lack
of funds.
Meanwhile, Sarinah, chief of the spending unit of the West
Java provincial administration's finance section, said the
provincial administration had no financial difficulties in paying
the salaries of the 18,630 civil servants in the province as it
had reserved Rp 21.22 trillion for the purpose from this month's
disbursement by the central government from the general
allocation fund.
"We would have a serious problem though if the central
government decided to stop the general allocation fund
disbursements in the future as the province has yet to find any
other way of paying its civil servants," she said.
She added that the majority of the province's general
allocation fund payments had been used to finance road
rehabilitation projects.
Yusar Huduri, director of the South Sulawesi administration's
finance section, said the central government had already
disbursed Rp 16 billion to cover the payment of the December 2001
salaries of 13,700 civil servants in the province.
He said that the total amount of Rp 232 billion that had been
allocated by the central government to the province out of the
general allocation fund had already been received.
"The funds to pay civil servants for December 2001 are already
in hand. We are now distributing them to regencies," he said.