Rp 13.5b house for governor

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

At a time when the people of East Nusa Tenggara are still coping with a food crisis and widespread malnutrition, the provincial council has approved a proposed a budget of Rp 13.5 billion (US$1.5 million) to construct a new official residence for the governor.

The budget is much more than the overall Rp 11 billion set aside to deal with the food crisis, prolonged drought and malnutrition in the disadvantaged province, where more than 60 percent of its people are living below the poverty line.

A member of the council's budget committee, Chen Abubakar, said on Tuesday the governor's official residence would be constructed over three years, from 2005 to 2008. The house will be equipped with VVIP guest rooms, tennis courts and a swimming pool.

He said the council did not object to the proposed budget considering the present house was no longer fit to live in.

"The 13.5 billion budget will be set aside over three years from the provincial budget," Chen said.

He said the old house was already in poor shape, with parts of its roof leaking during the rainy season and some rooms that were intended for office use could not serve the purpose.

When charged the decision showed the administration and the council's insensitivity to the many problems experienced by the people, he played it down, saying they would still give priority to addressing various problems, especially the prolonged drought, food crisis and malnutrition.

"The construction of the official house has been planned since 2003," he said.

The provincial administration earlier estimated that more than 30,000 hectares of farmland suffered total crop failure due to severe drought during the dry season, causing financial losses estimated at Rp 191 billion (US$20.5 million).

As of June, 45 children in the province's six regencies were diagnosed with marasmus, while 33,910 were suffering from malnutrition and 8,218 others were undernourished.

Separately on Tuesday, spokesman for East Nusa Tenggara's governor, Umbu Saga Anakaka, said the governor's official residence on Jl. El. Tari, which was built in 1962, looked good from the outside but on the inside it was falling apart.

He said that with the provincial council's approval, the construction of the new residence would proceed immediately. Governor Piet A. Tallo has already moved out of the official house to his own residence in Oebufu subdistrict, Kupang city.

"Currently, the tender has been announced. The house is being built because the old house is damaged, not to show off when many residents are experiencing hard times," Umbu said.