Rp 1.26t allocated to poor in Jakarta

Rp 1.26t allocated to poor in Jakarta

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Some Rp 1.26 trillion (US$143 million) has been allocated for a
poverty alleviation program in the city this year, which is a
substantial amount compared to the number of poor families in the
city.

Last year's data showed that there were 83,049 poor families
or 291,324 people. If it is assumed the poor population does not
increase significantly this year, it means the allocation for
each poor family is more than Rp 15 million per year or Rp 1.26
million per month, which is twice the city's minimal wage of Rp
631,000.

In other words, the fund for each poor person is more than Rp
360,00 per month.

The amount allocated in the fund for the poor was revealed by
the head of the control, assessment and information division at
the city administration, Sugianto, during a one-day discussion on
the 2003 city budget here on Saturday.

According to Sugianto the Rp 1.26 trillion came from two
sources: the 2003 budget and the fund generated by the central
government from the reduction in the subsidy in fuel prices. This
year's city budget allocates Rp 967.32 billion for the poverty
alleviation program, while the total from the central government
is Rp 300 billion.

Sugianto said that the city administration places activities
funded by the poverty eradication fund into two categories.

The first category involves activities which directly affect
the poor such as scholarships, capital for the poor who want to
do small businesses and the construction of low-price apartments.
A total of Rp 627.32 billion is allocated for such activities.

Other activities are those that do not have a direct impact on
the poor, including skills training for jobless people, the
creation of job opportunities, and the Subdistrict Community
Empowerment Program (PPMK).

Separately, an executive of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC)
Ari Ujianto, expressed doubts that the city administration's
program on poverty alleviation would be effective.

Ari noted that one of the factors which makes the poverty
eradication program ineffective, is the top-down approach of the
program.

With the top-down approach, the poverty elimination program
would be less effective as the poor people are treated as
objects, Ari said.

"We often hear that a program was ineffective because it
failed to address the needs of the poor people," Ari told The
Jakarta Post.

He added that a lack of transparency in its implementation
encouraged corruption, particularly in the abuse of the fund
allocated for the Subdistrict Community Empowerment Program
(PPMK).

Analysts estimated that leakage, due to corruption, in the
city budget reached some 30 percent of the total budget.

The total city budget is more than Rp 11 trillion this year.

A similar comment on the effectiveness of the city
administration's program in combating poverty came from Tubagus
Haryokarbiyanto of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH)'s urban
affairs division.

He said that huge amount of leakage in the city budget was due
to an ineffective control mechanism for budget spending.

According to Tubagus, the City Audit Agency (Bawasda) which is
still part of the city administration was not independent and
could therefore not exercise its auditing function.

"Of course, the Bawasda's head could not work independently if
the irregularities uncovered involved his bosses," he added.

Head of the Community Empowerment Board (BPM) Rohana Manggala
had earlier admitted that corruption cases were still found in
the implementation of the poverty eradication program.

She cited the fact that some Rp 900 million of the PPMK fund
was misappropriated last year.