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