Subdistricts can't pay for cheap rice

JAKARTA (JP): Most of the capital's 265 subdistricts owe a total of Rp 1.9 billion (about US$215,000) to the Jakarta chapter of the State Logistics Agency (Dolog Jaya) for cheap rice they received in the past five months, an official said.

Djodjo Sutardjo of the city's regional economic bureau (Binekda) told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that subdistrict heads -- assigned to provide the rice at discounted prices to needy local residents -- paid only Rp 980 million of the total Rp 2.88 billion debt.

Djodjo could not come up with a concrete reason for the problem.

He speculated that a scarcity of branches of Bank Bukopin, the designated payment bank, may have been a problem for local officials.

Payment for the cheap rice scheme, beginning last July and based on gubernatorial instruction No. 273/1998, should be transferred to Binekda's bank account through Bank Bukopin branches, Djodjo said.

Funds were then to be transferred to Dolog Jaya. No reasons were given for the selection of Bukopin as the designated bank.

In August, most subdistrict heads complained there were no Bukopin branches in their areas.

They said it would be risky to carry considerable amounts of money to distant locations, Djodjo quoted as their reason for not paying the debt.

"But we have advised them to simply pay into our other bank account opened at branches of city-owned Bank DKI which are easily found in all subdistricts."

The economic crisis assaulting the country for almost two years has raised bank interest rates to an average 35 percent per annum.

According to Djodjo, the subdistrict heads should have paid for the cheap rice at least one week after receiving the commodity.

"You have to pay cash for what you get," he said.

All subdistrict heads and five mayors were also required to give full reports of the payment monthly to the governor and Dolog Jaya as stipulated by the law.

"Until today, no single report has been made by either the subdistricts, the districts or the mayoralties," Djodjo said.

His office has twice sent urgent letters to all the capital's five mayors to seriously investigate the matter.

"The last letter was sent on Dec. 20," he added.

Djodjo did not describe measures to be taken by the city administration against subdistrict heads if payments were not made.

Under the scheme, subdistricts heads offer the government- subsidized rice at Rp 1,000 per kilogram to a limited number of poor residents. On the market, the price of the same quality rice is about Rp 3,500 per kilogram.

Selected poor families were initially limited to purchases of 10 kilograms each. Since January, the quantity has been increased to 20 kilograms per family.

According to official data, the program to help families living below the poverty line in the capital's subdistricts has already reached 99,872 families.

On Friday, city secretary Fauzi Bowo said that beginning next month officials from the Ministry of Social Services would collect the debt directly from the subdistrict heads. (ylt)