NTB DPRD’s Rp120bn Constituency Fund Cut, Could Become Budget Surplus

The 2026 budget for the Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) provincial legislature’s Pokok-Pokok Pikiran (Pokir, or constituency proposals) is suspected of containing irregularities and anomalies worth Rp120 billion, and may become a budget surplus (Sisa Lebih Perhitungan Anggaran, or Silpa).

Baiq Nelly Yuniarti, head of the NTB Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda), stressed that activities classified as anomalous or problematic in the Budget Implementation Document (DPA), particularly those under the revised regional budget, are expressly prohibited by regulations from being carried out.

“Planning may have passed, yes. But this is already in the DPA. There are anomalies: the wrong electoral constituency, and cash grants to one’s own foundation. Those are not allowed. And, finally, the items in the revised budget cannot be executed,” Nelly said in Mataram on Wednesday (21 October 2026).

Nelly said technical matters and detailed investigations into the estimated Rp120 billion in anomalous Pokir funding fell under the remit of the NTB Provincial Inspectorate.

She added that funding for cancelled or unexecuted Pokir activities would remain unused and automatically be recorded as Silpa for 2026 by the end of the budget year.

“Where does the money go? Into Silpa. It’s not necessarily all lost; any activity that isn’t carried out this year will become Silpa,” she said.

Nelly said she did not know how far the Inspectorate had gone in summoning technical agencies to establish what had actually been implemented on the ground.

“We can’t see that; it’s with the Inspectorate. I don’t know whether the Inspector has called in the technical agencies yet to check the full implementation. They have shifted their focus to 2027, so apologies,” she added.

Nelly said the Pokir anomaly issue gained prominence after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) began handling the matter and providing supervision. Following the KPK team’s visit, a series of intensive meetings were held with the Regional Inspectorate to determine which work packages met the requirements and which did not.

She indicated that the total budget frozen was not necessarily the full Rp120 billion, since technical discretion could apply to projects that had already been contracted before the intervention.

“No, because the latest position was after the KPK visit. After that there were meetings at the Inspector’s office. Ask the Inspector first whether there were meetings where, among other things, the Inspector said that projects already under contract should continue,” Nelly said.

She again advised that the NTB Regional Inspector be asked directly for the final figure for the cuts to anomalous Pokir funding.

Thousands of Public Works Pokir Packages Reviewed

Meanwhile, the NTB Provincial Public Works and Spatial Planning Agency (PUPR) is conducting a comprehensive review of thousands of Pokir work packages, covering both the original allocation and the revised budget.

Lalu Wijaya Kusuma, head of the NTB Public Works, Spatial Planning and Housing Agency (PUPRKP), said the review began on the second day of the KPK’s Coordination and Supervision (Korsup) team’s visit to his office. All activities in public works, water management and housing were temporarily halted for an audit.

“On its second day here, I immediately asked for a review. I stopped all work at Public Works. The team was here for two days, and on the second day I issued a letter requesting a review of everything and stopped it all temporarily. That review was then carried out,” Wijaya said.

He said the NTB Public Works Agency had around 1,000 Pokir packages in its original programme, spread across roads and bridges, construction, and water management. The revised regional budget contained about 200 packages.

“For the original budget, we have almost all of them—perhaps around a thousand packages across roads and bridges, construction, water management, all of it. The revised budget has perhaps around 200 packages,” he said.

Although the packages numbered in the thousands and had contract values ranging from tens to hundreds of millions of rupiah, Wijaya said none had been deliberately deleted or removed from the planning process. Instead, verification of planning and on-the-ground implementation had been tightened.

“They weren’t deleted; they simply weren’t included. If they had been deleted, I would know the package. If they weren’t included, I wouldn’t know—that’s the difference,” he explained.

Following the comprehensive review, the agency placed the packages into several categories. Some were cleared, others required further audits because work had already started or been completed, and some required administrative or planning-stage improvements.

Wijaya said work that had already begun or been completed by the time the KPK team arrived would not automatically be stopped altogether, but would have to undergo an audit.

“There are several classifications, including packages that are clear and approved. Those that are still under review—such as work already completed—will be audited,” he said.

Wijaya also said the agency and its internal team found no evidence of packages crossing electoral constituency boundaries, despite reports of such cases. However, he acknowledged that some planning stages may have been bypassed.