Delayed fund disbursement stalls urgent projects

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 05/05/2006 11:50 AM  |  Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For almost a month now, the nasty pot holes in the busway lane on Jl. Hayam Wuruk, West Jakarta, have forced busway drivers to take a small detour and squeeze into the traffic like everybody else.

The road subsidence, which was caused by the collapse of the 30-meter-long Ciliwung Dam on Kali Menteng River, has caused traffic congestion during the day because the buses are not sticking to their exclusive lane.

And there could be a long wait before conditions improve.

The reconstruction of the dam, as well as some other major infrastructure projects, has been halted because of the delayed disbursement of this year's city budget.

The head of the Jakarta Public Work Agency, Wisnu Subagya Yusuf, said Wednesday the agency could not take any action yet because repairing the dam and resealing the road would cost at least Rp 5 billion.

""We don't have the budget to fix it. We have to wait for the provincial budget,"" he said.

But even if funding comes through, allocating money to fix the dam could be problematic because it is considered an incidental project and is not in the budget proposal, he said.

The city administration has blamed the central government for red tape in determining and disbursing the provincial budget this year, which reached a total of Rp 17.1 trillion (US$1.9 billion).

A large part of the budget was allocated for several major infrastructure projects, including in transportation.

Councillor Tubagus Arif from Commission D for development said central government procedures for determining the provincial budget were excessively complex, which made it difficult for city agencies to accomplish programs or give a quick response to incidents, such as the collapse of the dam.

""Each agency has the budget for such an occurrence. It is just that the agencies are afraid of being accused of corruption by the Supreme Audit Agency, if a project is not listed in the budget proposal,"" he said.

He urged the government to prioritize the reconstruction of the dam when the provincial budget was revised in July.

The administration's assistant for development, Nurfakih Wirawan, said among projects that were delayed this year were the building of the Pasar Minggu underpass and land acquisition for the East Flood Canal project.

""It is always a problem for the city -- projects are put off because the funds are not released,"" he said.

Nurfakih said the administration would overcome the problem by making multiyear programs for infrastructure projects, which would allow greater flexibility and the rapid release of funds for urgent projects. (06)

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.