Late budget approval delays projects
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.