Jember councillors reject soft loan

Jember councillors reject soft loan

JEMBER, East Java: The Jember legislature has rejected a soft
loan offered by the central government due to a requirement the
regency pay Jakarta a Rp 100 million brokerage fee.

Deputy legislative council speaker Mahmud Sarjuono said on
Wednesday that Jakarta had offered the regency administration Rp
1 billion in development aid under the Sustainable Capacity
Building for Decentralization (SCBD) scheme funded by the Asian
Development Bank.

"I admit that we need the funds to finance our development
programs but I strongly object to the fact we have to set aside
10 percent of the total loan as a requirement," he said.

The loan is expected to finance the regency's programs such as
institutional management, human resources development and
economic development for the next fiscal year. --JP