Council, administration agree to slash Rp 429b from budget

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 10/24/2007 4:17 PM  |  Jakarta

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After two months of sometimes contentious talks with the City Council, the administration on Monday agreed to revise the 2007 city budget.

The administration agreed to slash Rp 429.24 billion (US$47.2 million) in projects and programs, and peg the budget at Rp 20.56 trillion.

""There are several projects that are not doable by the end of this year so we simply canceled them, which prevents us from using our reserves,"" City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya said Monday.

The administration and City Council also agreed to allocate an additional Rp 86 billion to finance health insurance for low-income residents and to prepare for the National Games early next year.

A week before Idul Fitri the administration was still opposed to a budget revision proposed by the City Council, because the proposal called for the use of the city's reserve funds to finance the low-income health insurance scheme and the National Games preparations.

The administration said reserve funds should only be used for emergency situations like natural disasters.

According to media reports, much of the dispute centered around the decision by then governor Sutiyoso to revoke the Rp 21.5 trillion budget, despite having already passed a decree to disburse the funds to city agencies.

Explaining the governor's decision, the administration said an error had been made that failed to take into account Rp 600 billion that was left over from the previous year's budget.

A new, Rp 20.9 trillion budget was then released in April.

Head of the council's Commission C overseeing city revenue, Daniel Abdullah Sani, refused to detail the programs that were slashed during the two revisions, but he said no necessary programs had been canceled.

""We have maintained our priorities, such as land acquisition for the East Flood Canal project as well as the busway subsidy,"" he said.

He said that to keep the busway fare at Rp 3,500 this year the council agreed to release another Rp 31 billion to subsidize its operation.

The Transportation Agency earlier proposed raising the busway fare to stem losses being suffered by the operator and its bus suppliers.

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