YECC rehabilitation project to be completed before ATF meeting
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.