YECC rehabilitation project to be completed before ATF meeting
Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
The Rp 42.5 billion upgrade of the Yogyakarta Exhibition and Convention Center (YECC) would be completed prior to next week's ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) meeting, the Yogyakarta provincial government says.
"The project will be completed in the next seven days and ATF participants will be the first to use the convention center," Bambang S.P., secretary of the provincial administration, said in a press conference here on Monday
Bambang, however, admitted that some parts of the building which would not be used during the forum, running from Jan. 21 to Jan. 28, would be left unfinished.
"And because of this short time left for us, the ceiling of the building is temporary and will be pulled down again after the ATF meeting," he said.
The construction of the 14,000-square-meter, two-story building some six kilometers east of the city in Bantul has been criticized by the provincial legislative council because of its cost.
Despite the opposition, the provincial administration went ahead with the reconstruction project with the hope that it would break-even within five years.
Of Rp 42.5 billion spent on the project, the provincial government has contributed Rp 19 billion while the remaining Rp 23.3 billion came from the central government and a grant from Japan.
Bambang said the ATF meeting, scheduled to be officially opened by President Megawati Soekarnoputri, would feature tourism agents from throughout ASEAN and relevant ministers who were both expected to give participants insights on how Southeast Asia's tourism industry could be encouraged to grow.
Around 1,200 delegates from the ten ASEAN-member countries were expected to participate in the eight-day meeting.
He said the opening ceremony would took place at the Yogyakarta Royal Palace, the first-day sessions will be held at the Yogyakarta Regency Hotel and other sessions would be held at the convention center.
In a separate development, Bambang also said that Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno was slated to swear in Paku Alam IX as deputy governor of Yogyakarta, on Wednesday a position he would serve in for only one year.
He made the confirmation in line with the issuing last Saturday of a presidential decree on the planned inauguration.
Paku Alam IX won the deputy gubernatorial election by the provincial legislative council last October but the inauguration has been postponed for unclear reasons.
Bambang declined to comment on the postponement but many legislators have said that it centered on allegations of Paku Alam IX's fake senior high school certificate.
Paku Alam IX, king of the Pakualaman Kingdom in the province, will only serve for one year because incumbent Yogyakarta Governor Hamengku Buwono X will end his five-year term of office early next year.