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)