Minister faces a bumpy road

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Public Works Rachmadi Bambang said on Saturday his ministry was facing mounting complaints about the worsening condition of the country's 292,586 kilometers of roads.

Rachmadi said, however, his ministry would not be able to repair the majority of the roads because the ministry's budget for the 1999/2000 fiscal year was only about 58 percent of its budget before the economic crisis hit the country in 1997.

"I do not mean to complain, but the situation is becoming more difficult and our burdens are becoming bigger, but our capability is becoming more limited," the minister said.

Rachmadi said 3,500 kilometers of the 23,270 kilometers of roads constructed by the central government were severely damaged.

He also said 51 percent of the 38,650 kilometers of provincial roads could not be repaired due to lack of funds and 58 percent of the 227,083 kilometers of regency roads needed major repairs.

Last year the ministry was only able to repair 1,067 kilometers of government-constructed roads, 3,125 kilometers of provincial roads and 7,972 kilometers of regency roads.

Rachmadi said corruption, which he described as a moral hazard, and negligence contributed to the poor condition of the roads.

Citing data from his ministry, he said the government had allocated Rp 2.8 trillion for road construction and maintenance in the current fiscal year, including Rp 2.71 trillion for government-constructed roads. He added that the real value of these funds had dropped by more than 60 percent compared to two years ago.

"We are among the biggest spenders among the ministries. It is true that we only receive a small portion of direct revenue from the state, but our mission is to build infrastructure," he said.

He also said toll roads faced gloomy prospects because the government was forced to halt 97 of 107 planned toll road projects due to inefficiency, corruption, collusion and nepotism.

In an earlier written statement, Rachmadi said the government could save at least Rp 43 trillion by canceling the projects. However, he later retracted this statement.

"That statement can be misleading because the projects only reached the phase of a memorandum of understanding," he said.

Apart from the poor condition of roads, the ministry is also facing difficulty providing tap water service to the country because only 50 of the 307 regional water companies are able to operate at full capacity, Rachmadi said.

"Ninety of the companies are in critical condition, while 160 firms cannot cover their operational costs," he said.(prb)