Vendors object to ITC plan

Vendors object to ITC plan

SUBANG, West Java: Around 300 vendors in Pamanukan, Subang
regency, have protested the regental administration's plan to
build an International Trade Center (ITC) in the shopping
district, starting later this month.

The vendors objected to the plan because they must be
relocated to a temporary compound about three kilometers west of
the shopping center.

"If the regental administration still goes on with its plan,
it means they don't care about us," Kusdiyati, an official of the
Pamanukan vendors association, said on Tuesday.

She said that the vendors had been protesting for several
days, peaking on Saturday when they blockaded the busy north
coast route for two hours.

Meanwhile, Pamanukan district chief Budi Setiadi said the ITC
should be built quickly because the existing shopping center
could no longer accommodate the vendors, whose numbers had
continued to increase.

Budi claimed that although the administration had invited the
vendors several times to discuss the matter, the vendors had
always turned down without any reason. -- JP

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Across-civil-servant-number
Civil servant number imbalance
JP/5/ACROSS

Civil servant number imbalance

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi: State Minister for Administrative
Reforms Feisal Tamin said on Tuesday that the number of civil
servants between the western and eastern parts of Indonesia were
unbalanced.

"There are only 555,648 civil servants in the eastern part of
Indonesia, but there are over 2.4 million on Java alone," he
said.

Feisal said that provinces in the eastern part of Indonesia
had only demanded infrastructure development, and had never asked
for an increase in the number of civil servants.

He pointed out that civil servants had always lacked
professionalism, which had disappointed the public in the end
because of the poor service they provided. He also emphasized on
the need to simplify the bureaucracy for civil servants. -- JP

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Across-funds-school-renovation
Lack of funds halts school renovation
JP/5/ACROSS

Lack of funds halts school renovation

CILACAP, Central Java: A limited budget has put a halt to a
renovation project for 800 elementary school buildings in the
regency. Head of the regental education agency Sutoyo said that
there were 1,132 elementary schools and that 70 percent of them
were damaged.

"The buildings are already old and they need renovation. But
the budget we have only comes to 10 percent of the needed funds,"
he said on Monday, adding that the renovation was estimated to
cost Rp 100 billion (US$12.2 million).

The agency has started to combine several schools into a
single institute in order to overcome the lack of funds, as well
as to anticipate a drop in students for the upcoming academic
year.

Sutoyo said that there were 82 combined schools so far, which
cost the agency Rp 3 billion. The process is expected to be
completed next year. -- JP