Spatial Planning Agency revenue below target

Spatial Planning Agency revenue below target

JAKARTA (JP): The City Spatial Planning Agency is unlikely to
meet its target of Rp 71 billion (US$18.7 million) in revenue for
the 1996/1997 fiscal year, city councilors said yesterday.

"It could probably meet only 80 percent of the target,"
Amarullah Asbah, head of Commission C for city revenue said after
a meeting with the agency yesterday.

With only three months to go before the end of the fiscal
year, the agency has collected only Rp 42.5 billion as of late
last month, he said.

Amarullah said that the significant drop in agency revenue
this fiscal year was due to the nation's economic woes as well as
the arduous processes involved in collecting levies.

The councilor, however, gave no figures for last year's
revenue.

The revenue collected from the City Spatial Planning Agency is
one of the major financial sources for the city administration,
which hoped to collect a total of Rp 2.97 trillion from various
sectors.

The agency collects levies for services such as land
evaluation, land use information service, building permits,
regulation infringement and land use permits.

"The agency said many developers have failed to meet their
obligations to pay levies because many of their projects have
been postponed," Amarullah said.

Besides the monetary crisis, the agency's complicated
procedures had "strangled" levy collection, he said.

"The procedure to issue, for instance, a land use permit
usually takes more than two months, which makes people reluctant
to follow the rules.

"Whether they pay extra or the usual tariff, the service is
still the same: slow."

He urged the agency to get rid of the red tape and enhance
staff professionalism to improve methods of revenue collection.

"There's already a City Bylaw No.11/1996 which regulates the
agency's procedures for levy collection. If they followed the
rules properly, the agency would not have difficulty collecting
the levies.

"It will be useless if they do not follow the rules and listen
to the public's concerns."

Councilor Husni Bachrum, a member of Commission C for city
revenue, shared his colleague's opinion.

"What is going on in the agency now is that they are not
active in collecting the levies. They're only waiting for some
developers to make mistakes for which they can charge the
businesspeople later with levies, which are considered 'fines'.

"How can they collect more revenue if they're just waiting for
somebody to screw up a project? That's sad."

Husni said if the agency wants to collect more money it must
improve its performance by implementing a quick-and-easy service,
he said.

"By doing so, the agency would easily collect more levies and,
at the same time, people are satisfied with the services."

The agency has come under fire in recent months because of
several land use violations, including breaches by businesses in
Kemang and the construction of Hotel Mulia Senayan.

Both cases involve serious land use violations, namely
converting a green area into commercial sites and violating
height regulations for high-rise buildings.

"I think there's no other way for the agency to increase the
collection of levies except by improving the agency's performance
and management," Husni said. (edt)