Stricter control urged on foreign-funded projects
Stricter control urged on foreign-funded projects
JAKARTA (JP): The National Development Planning Board
(Bappenas) will impose stricter control on foreign-funded
projects in next fiscal year.
Rahardi Ramelan, a deputy chairman of the board, said that the
stricter control is essential to avoid deviation from development
priorities as set out in the government's blue book.
"The development plans are often ignored. Their implementation
is often against the government's blue book," he told reporters
following a meeting with representatives of the Manila-based
Asian Development Bank (ADB) here on Friday.
He acknowledged that the deviation of development priorities
is not solely caused by the lack of discipline on the part of
ministerial offices as the operators of the projects, but also by
external factors such as pressure from project financiers or
their consultants.
"Such changes often, in certain circumstance, take place
because of the pressure from financiers of those projects and
sometimes due to the recommendation of their consultants," he
said.
Rahardi said that in the future changes in project priorities
will be no longer tolerated to guarantee that all projects are in
line with the government's planning.
In order to avoid further mistakes, a project proposal will be
approved only if it is well prepared and supported by an adequate
feasibility study.
"We don't want a loan to be issued long before a project
commences," he said.
The bank's officials discussed the progress of ADB-financed
projects in the country during the meeting.
Rahardi said that the discussion, which he described as a just
routine meeting, was aimed at further synchronizing the bank's
future loans to Indonesia's development priorities.
The bank, which pledged to provide a loan of US$1.2 billion
for the current 1994/95 fiscal year during the July meeting of
the Consultative Group for Indonesia, committed to further
participate in the country's development efforts in the coming
years, he said.(hen)