National Nutrition Agency Assures No Portion Cuts in Free Nutritious Meals Programme
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Nutrition Agency (BGN) has confirmed there are no meal portion cuts by partners in the Free Nutritious Meals (MBG) programme, as the financial governance system has been aligned with prevailing mechanisms.
BGN Deputy Head Sony Sanjaya said the rumours had circulated among the public due to a lack of understanding about the programme’s financial governance. To address this, BGN is committed to conducting ongoing socialisation regarding the management of the national nutrition improvement programme to prevent any misperceptions.
“BGN strictly separates facility incentives for buildings (Rp6 million per day) from raw material or food budgets. Through the at-cost principle and the use of virtual accounts (VA), raw material procurement funds do not enter partners’ personal accounts but remain in operational VAs whose disbursements are tightly supervised and paid according to verified purchase receipts,” Sony said when contacted in Jakarta on Monday.
He stressed that there is no food margin in the MBG programme. Should there be any price difference in raw materials, the funds cannot be withdrawn as partner profit and remain recorded in the financial system in accordance with prevailing mechanisms.
This is stipulated in technical guideline (juknis) 401.1, which states that the sole entitlement of partners is the facility incentive, not profit from the sale of side dishes or meal portions.
The facility incentive policy represents a budget efficiency strategy as well as risk transfer, as the state would otherwise require substantial upfront capital expenditure that could burden the national budget (APBN).
“In a simulation where the state independently builds 30,000 Nutrition Fulfilment Service Units (SPPG), 30,000 multiplied by Rp3 billion would require Rp90 trillion — and that excludes land and maintenance costs. Under the partnership scheme, the state does not incur large upfront capital expenditure. The APBN is not burdened by massive capital outlays that risk becoming idle, as the state only pays daily incentives based on service availability,” he explained.
According to him, the scheme enables the rapid mass development of nutrition infrastructure within months rather than years. The state is essentially “buying time” for construction, whilst the risks of construction, maintenance and operations rest with the partners.
“In practice, if a CCTV camera breaks, an air conditioning unit fails, or a roof leaks, the partner bears the repair costs. If an SPPG violates standard operating procedures or food safety standards, its status can be temporarily suspended and its incentive halted,” he said.
In the event of an extraordinary incident, such as food poisoning, he added, an SPPG can be suspended or even permanently closed, with the full risk of investment losses borne by the partner.