Observers advise city to prioritize SMEs and housing

Observers advise city to prioritize SMEs and housing

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Urban observers advised the Jakarta Administration to put a
higher priority for the 2004 city budget spending on small- and
medium-sized enterprises and other important sectors,
particularly public housing.

They said it was necessary to emphasize the areas that affect
the working class, thereby avoiding a repeat of this year's
meager spending which was evidence of the administration's
failure to organize and implement well-planned development
programs.

Muhammad Suhud, an executive of the International NGO Forum on
Indonesian Development (INFID), told The Jakarta Post on Friday
that the administration must pay more attention to the
development of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) as they
had contributed significantly to the capital's economic
development during the economic crisis that hit the country in
1997.

"With its Rp 12.16 trillion (US$1.43 billion) budget next
year, the administration should give serious attention to street
vendors, for example, by designating certain places for them," he
said. "Instead of evicting them, the city must accommodate them."

Wicaksono Sarosa of the Urban and Regional Development
Institute (URDI) urged the administration to prioritize important
sectors like public housing for low-income families in the city.

He said the administration could easily address the housing
problem with its Rp 12.16 trillion budget by cutting out many
less significant projects from the budget.

Wicaksono pointed out that the administration must provide
permanent shelter for the recent string of eviction victims.

Both Suhud and Wicaksono were commenting on the
administration's spending this year. They called on the
administration and the council to learn how to control the
implementation of next year's city budget so that they could
increase agency spending.

"If the administration had planned the projects well, the
implementation would not be so far behind schedule," Suhud said.

Wicaksono stressed that the meager budget spending indicated
the administration's poor performance.

The city administration has proposed Rp 12.16 trillion for the
2004 city budget or a 10.68 percent increase from this year's Rp
11.563 trillion.

However, the administration only managed to spend 41.50
percent as of Sept. 30, as most development projects were stalled
or never implemented.

The administration has estimated that the unused portion of
the 2003 budget would reach some Rp 2.223 trillion.

The major spending of the budget has come from periodic
spending of 52.75 percent while activities spending was only
34.38 percent.

Suhud warned the administration and the council that if they
failed to make better plans, and then carry them out, the 2004
budget would experience a similar fate to this year's.

"It means the administration will have failed again in
managing the taxpayers' money for projects that help people
prosper," he said.