More rooms

More rooms for the poor

City councilors from commission E on health affairs hope that the Haji Hospital, built by the government to take care of pilgrims in Pondok Gede, Bekasi, will look after the poor.

"The Haji Hospital should allocate no less than 40 percent of its rooms to the poor," said the chairman of the commission, Soegiyo, on his official visit to the hospital yesterday.

Soegiyo said the Haji hospital should keep up with other religious hospitals, such as St. Carolus hospital and the Islamic Hospital, which allocate 46 percent and 56 percent of their rooms to the poor. Both hospitals are located in Central Jakarta.

Current regulations require hospitals to put aside 25 percent of their rooms to accommodate the poor. (06)

Hoteliers fear Double taxation

The hotel industry is worried that the development tax (PB I) on hotels and restaurants, will result in double taxation.

Diyak Mulahela, the head of the association of Jakarta hotel controllers, said yesterday "double taxation can stir up uneasiness among hotel and restaurant operators. Revenues which are subject to the development tax must be clearly separated from those falling under the value-added tax."

The tax is levied by the city administration on food and beverage sales at hotels and restaurants, and on room charges.

In response to the complaint, Fauzie Alvi Yasin, the head of the city revenue office, said his office and the directorate general of taxation will issue a clarifying statement on which income categories are subject to the Development Tax and which to the value added tax.

"The issuance of the letter is aimed to avoid overlapping taxation and to prevent disputes between tax payers and tax collectors," Fauzie said, but did not say when the letter will be issued.

The development tax is a major source of city revenue, second only to motor-vehicle taxes.

Every year, the city administration gets Rp 500 million (US$ 233,100) from motor-vehicle taxes and Rp 90 million from the development tax. (06)

Apartment project behind schedule

The building of six blocks of low-cost Tanah Tinggi apartments by the municipal administration for fire victims in Central Jakarta is behind the schedule.

"At first it was planned to be completed in September. So, local residents whose houses were gutted by fire last year could stay there shortly after the completion," project leader Asril Hadin told Governor Surjadi Soedirja who inspected the project on Sunday.

He noted the housing money given by the city administration to the Tanah Tinggi fire victims will last only until September. "It means the city government is compelled to provide extra money," he said.

Hadin, who is also a section head at the city housing office, stated that of the six planned apartments, only two are already under construction, while will be started this week.

The two blocks, which are expected to be ready in June this year, have a capacity of 136 units; while the rest will have 288 units.

In a hearing with the governor, local residents asked him to speed up the project so that all of them could move to the apartments soon. (11)