Many city projects miss deadline

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Residents hoping there will be better public facilities in the near future are set for disappointment, with many infrastructure projects, including new busway corridors and flood mitigation systems, likely to miss their Dec. 31 completion target.

City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya said on Friday that about 25 percent of the projects worth Rp 3.5 trillion (US$340 million) in the city would likely go beyond their Dec. 31 deadline.

He said several factors had slowed down the projects, including the current campaign against corruption.

The intensive campaign against corruption, according to Ritola, has prompted officials to be overcautious in carrying out tenders for projects handled by their respective agencies.

This year, the administration alone allocated Rp 515 billion for new busway corridors, Rp 450 billion for land acquisition for flood canal projects, Rp 400 billion for river dredging, Rp 400 billion for waste treatment facilities, Rp 150 billion for underpass and overpass construction and Rp 150 billion for low- cost apartments.

Ritola did not mention which projects would go past the deadline, but said that nearly all agencies under the Jakarta administration had proposed extending the construction period of their projects.

He said the administration would give up to April 2006 to project developers to complete their projects, which is in line with a decree of the Ministry of Finance issued last month.

"The minister of finance issued a decree giving up to April for projects financed by city and regional budgets," he announced at City Hall.

Before the decree was issued, all projects financed with taxpayers' money were to be completed by Dec. 31, otherwise the money was to be returned to the city/regional treasurers.

Two busway corridors -- one Pulogadung in East Jakarta to Harmoni in Central Jakarta and another Harmoni to Kalideres in West Jakarta -- are still under construction.

The corridors are expected to help smoothen the movement of travelers, particularly bus passengers from the eastern to the western parts of the capital.

Currently, the city operates 60 buses along the busway corridor from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta. Next year, the city plans to develop four more busway corridors across the city.

Other projects include the construction of the East Flood Canal, which is expected to alleviate annual flooding in the eastern part of the city, and the construction of low-cost apartments to relocate low-income families from riverbank slums.