Only 60% of development fund spent
Only 60% of development fund spent
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta Administration was only able to spend some 60 percent
of the Rp 2.24 trillion (US$263.53 million) earmarked in the 2003
city budget for development projects.
The meager spend by the city administration was disclosed on
Friday by the chairman of the City Council's development
commission, Koeswadi Soesilohardjo, at a council plenary session
to debate the results of discussions on the draft 2004 city
budget with administration officials.
He expressed concern over the failure to meet the targets set
by the budget in respect of various development projects designed
to improve the city's infrastructure, including waste treatment,
housing, flood prevention and transportation facilities.
A total of Rp 2.24 trillion was allocated for infrastructure
spending out of the overall 2003 budget of Rp 11.56 trillion.
Koeswadi estimated that less than 70 percent of the
infrastructure budget would be spent by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, the administration has proposed that its total
budget for 2004 be increased to Rp 12.16 trillion with the
infrastructure allocation being upped to Rp 2.53 trillion,
despite the failure to meet targets in 2003.
The proposed infrastructure allocation will account for the
third largest chunk of budget funds after the Rp 3.61 trillion
earmarked for health and education and the Rp 3.10 trillion
allocated for spending on the administrative.
Koeswadi said the failure to meet spending targets indicated a
dismal performance on the part of the city government's principal
agencies, particularly those under the coordination of the
assistant to the city secretary for development affairs.
These agencies include the Jakarta Sanitation Agency, Public
Works Agency, Housing Agency, Communications Agency and
Environmental Management Agency.
"We hope that these agencies will be able to do better in
2004," said Koeswadi after the plenary session, which also heard
reports from the council's four other commissions.
City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya was reluctant to comment on the
failure to meet this year's budgetary spending targets, saying
that he had not checked the latest figures on overall spending.
Ritola said that by the end of this year, total spending was
expected to reach some 80 percent of the overall target.
He claimed that the administration had encountered various
constraints in meeting the targets, including delayed starts to
projects and changes in the budget structure.
Ritola said that the delayed starts were caused by holdups in
the deliberation of the 2003 budget, which only ended in January.
As regards the budget's structure, in 2002 the budget had been
divided into only two spending categories: development and
routine spending, whereas in 2003 budget spending was
differentiated into eight categories based on development sector.