Political will 'badly needed' in running projects
Political will 'badly needed' in running projects
JAKARTA (JP): City councillors have criticized the
administrations of Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi over
their lack of political will to synchronize their development
programs.
They said over the weekend that disharmony in the
implementation of programs by the four administrations would only
hinder development in the areas.
Ali Wongso Sinaga of the Golkar faction said Saturday that
political will was badly needed to help accommodate differences
and enable the administrations to achieve a balanced progress in
development.
He said political will can be translated into a single
management, "which does not necessarily mean that the
administrations must merge into one. The point is they should be
willing to cooperate with each other."
"A united spatial plan is also needed because at the moment,
each administration has its own plan, which is made based on its
own conditions and concerns," he said.
Lukman F. Mokoginta of the Indonesian Democratic Party said
Saturday that the disharmony between the four administrations'
development programs had severely affected Jakarta.
"Jakarta administration, for example, wants Bogor to function
mainly as a catchment but in reality, the latter continues
allocating some areas in Puncak and Bogor for housing," he said.
The elimination of catchments, especially in Bogor, would make
Jakarta prone to flooding, said Lukman.
He said that the government of Jakarta and West Java, which
administers Bogor, Bekasi and Tangerang, had actually formed the
Coordination Board in Development and Planning in 1973 in a bid
to synchronize the development in the four administration areas.
Lukman said the board focused its work on motivating the
administrations to coordinate their development programs,
especially on aspects which were considered essential, including
water resources, transportation, population and housing.
Saud Rahman of the United Development Party said the board,
however, had not functioned as well as expected.
"The board has not functioned in the sense that it fails to
motivate the administrations to cooperate with each other
whenever they plan on some development projects," he said Friday.
The failure, however, was not dominantly due to the board's
capability, he said.
"We feel that the administrations just don't have the good
will to cooperate with each other. They have different interests
and do not want to compromise," said Saud.
According to Lukman, the board did not have the legal
authority to oversee the administrations' development and
planning programs so that it would never be able to prevent one
administration from making programs which would affect another
administration's concern.
Ali said the central government, through the National
Development Planning Board (Bappenas), also formed a development
coordination board last year with the four administrations.
Under its establishment, he said, Bappenas was expected to
arbitrate any conflict of interest among the administrations.
The board was now working to complete the united spatial plan,
he said. "Hopefully, it can be completed before 2000." (cst)