Late budget approval delays projects
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
All projects planned by the city administration this year will start late as the approval of the 2003 budget by the City Council will likely come late.
According to the schedule of the budget meetings, which was made available on Wednesday, Governor Sutiyoso is scheduled to officially submit the budget to the council and give his introductory speech during a plenary session on Monday.
The council is scheduled to approve the budget by the end of this month, but it is doubtful that they will be able do so on time due to the volume of material for discussion. The budget document consists of 14 bound documents.
In past years, the council needed a month to a month and a half to discuss the budget before the council approved it. Last year's budget was approved on Jan. 31, after discussions lasting more than one month.
The city has proposed Rp 11.06 trillion for this year's budget, more than the 2002 budget which amounted to Rp 10.6 trillion, even though the administration failed to spend Rp 1.2 trillion from last year's budget.
Sutiyoso earlier admitted a possible delay in the 2003 budget's approval this year, saying that it might also affect city projects.
"What can we do? We have submitted the budget to the council ( in mid December). Now it depends on the council to discuss it," the governor asserted.
Many councillors argued the budget could not be discussed immediately since they should discuss first the Strategic City Planning and the City Development Planning. The two plans along with the budget are be approved as bylaws.
As a result of the late budget approval, tenders to be submitted for projects will probably be late. The city administration will use the remainder of last year's budget for routine expenditure.
However, sources said that the late budget approval was caused by a tug of war between the interests of city officials and councillors.
The officials want their projects to be given priority while the councillors who often act as brokers, want certain businessmen to handle certain projects.
According to the schedule, after Sutiyoso's budget speech on Monday, the city's 11 factions will give their general views on the budget proposal on Thursday.
On Jan. 20, Sutiyoso will respond on the factions' views and criticisms of the budget proposal.
On Jan. 21 and Jan 22, the city councillors who are grouped in five commissions, will discuss the budget with city officials at city-owned resort Wisma Jaya Raya in the mountainous Puncak area, West Java.
In the past years, during the Puncak meetings, several businessmen were seen approaching councillors and officials, to facilitate their planned projects.
The council's five commissions are then scheduled to deliver their report on Jan. 24 in a council plenary session.
On Jan. 25 and Jan. 25, the commissions' reports will be discussed by a team consisting of councillors and city officials, usually at city-owned Hotel Horison in Ancol, North Jakarta.
On Jan. 31, the council's factions are scheduled to deliver their final stance on the budget proposal.
In past years, the factions have accepted the budget without significant changes although they may have earlier voiced criticism of the budget or even stated that they would reject it.
Many believe the councillors readiness to accept the budget is due to their poor understanding of how the budget is calculated.