Regents to get more say in state spending

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie on Monday issued a decree that will alter the long-standing centralization of power and give regional officials greater authority in major development projects.

The ruling will come into effect on April 1.

Coordinating Minister for Development Supervision and Administrative Reform Hartarto said the new presidential decree gives regional officials the authority to make decisions regarding projects with a budget of up to Rp 50 billion (US$6.25 million).

Development projects costing the state more than this amount will be handled by ministers or state agency chiefs, Hartarto said in a media release.

According to the 1994 presidential decree still in effect, provincial and regency authorities are only given autonomy to handle projects with a budget less than Rp 2 billion. Projects costing between Rp 2 billion and Rp 5 billion are handled by director generals and those worth Rp 5 billion and over are handled by ministers or state agency chiefs.

Hartarto said that for projects financed by provincial budgets, lower-rank officials such as project chiefs would be authorized to handle those with a budget of Rp 50 billion or less. Projects worth more than that will fall into the jurisdiction of governors.

The minister said his office would not have the authority to decide the winners of bids for government projects. The office would only supervise the bidding process.

"Governors, regents and other government officials will be in charge of the tendering process, and report for supervision to my office," he said. (rms/prb)