Subdistrict heads to receive Kijang

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration is set to give a new Toyota Kijang car to each of the 267 subdistrict heads in the city.

Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo said on Thursday that the vehicles were badly needed not only by the subdistrict heads, but also by their subordinates so as to facilitate their work.

Fauzi refused to go into detail about how much the vehicles would cost. "Just work it out for yourselves. How much does a new Kijang cost right now?" he said.

As the price of a Kijang is around Rp 150 million (US$16,800), the city administration will probably have to spend more than Rp 40 billion to purchase the 267 vehicles as envisaged.

Fauzi said the vehicles would be purchased in July or August this year.

City spokesman Muhayat said that the cars would be purchased by the City Administration's Assets Bureau.

The city administration has been allocating huge sums of money to the subdistricts, including the Subdistrict Community Empowerment Program (PPMK), which is managed by the Subdistrict Councils (Dekel).

Although many instances of graft have been found in the management of the money, the city administration doubled the amount of the funds from Rp 250 billion last year to Rp 500 billion this year.

A source in the Assets Bureau said the administration had also allocated Rp 500 million for the maintenance of each subdistrict office.