The Banten provincial council demanded Saturday the administration increase spending on human resources development to increase quality of life in the region
The Banten provincial council demanded Saturday the administration increase spending on human resources development to increase quality of life in the region.
"The administration must increase its allocation for human development programs or our quality of life will not get any better," said councilor Agus Puji Rahardjo, executive chairman of the budget committee for the council.
A city administration 2009 work plans document, discussed at a meeting among administration officials and local leaders, showed Banten's Human Development Index (HDI) had made no significant improvement since 2004.
The index slowly crawled from 68.1 percent in 2004 to 68.8 percent in 2005, and to 69.1 percent in 2006. Last year, it rose to 70.1 percent and is expected to reach 71.1 percent this year.
Head of the National Development Planning Board Paskah Suzetta said Banten's low index meant the province had failed to accelerate its development.
"Banten ranked 20th of 33 provinces in the country for achievement in human resources development programs," he said while addressing the opening of the provincial Musrembang in Serang on Thursday.
He said Banten must improve to achieve competitiveness on the HDI.
The minister further said Banten's gross regional products value ranked in 16th position compared with all other provinces across the country, and that the two short-comings had prompted the central government to target Bantem for improvements.
He said the province's already-designed development plans must be synchronized with the interests of the central government and regencies and municipalities to avoid wasting resources through overlapping projects.
Agus said the council was concerned by the index results and that the administration officials must make concrete and direct actions to prioritize programs that would directly influence next year's index.
"It is too late to revise this year's plans. However, we hope that human resources development programs will be a priority next year."
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