The City Council has not approved the administration's proposal of an extra Rp 1.7 trillion for this year's revised budget.
"The city council and experts are still discussing whether our proposal is valid or not, especially on the budget forecast. Signs of economic improvement are already seen, so we don't want to be too pessimistic," Governor Fauzi Bowo said Tuesday.
He declined to confirm reports most of the revised budget would be allocated for the administration's internal spending. He said funds were set aside for public interests, including health insurance for low-income families (Gakin), obligatory expenditure and current projects.
He said some expenditures should be accommodated in the revised budget plan because they were not included in the previous plan.
"For example, the incentive in the new remuneration system will be completed by July. This was not yet included in the 2009 budget plan.
"Some consequences will follow as the result of the revised budget. I don't think the changes are for internal administration needs only."
The council is expected to approve the revised budget proposal, which includes temporary lists of priority items, by July 6.
Budi Widiantoro, head of the Jakarta Public Works Agency, said his agency had proposed a road improvement project using recycling methods worth Rp 39 billion in five municipalities in the revised budget.
The recycling would be less costly than fixing it with new asphalt because the workers would process the damaged road materials and use them to repair the roads, he said.
"It could be done overnight, so it would not cause congestion."
Budi said although the agency had not decided which roads would be repaired, they had geared up for a bidding process, expected to conclude in August so the project could start in September.
He said some bidding processes for the city projects had been completed before reaching the target of July this year.
The projects included rehabilitating Kalibata bridge in South Jakarta, making it 3 meters higher so it would not be prone to flood. A company named PT Iyasa Perkasa won the tender valued at Rp 68 billion.
"We have signed a contract worth Rp 6 billion."
He said a massive road revamp project worth Rp 270 billion had started in the city's five municipalities with 14 contractor companies responsible for the project.
"The roads include sections in Matraman and Mampang."
The revised budget is taken from the remainder of the 2008 budget allocation, which accounted for Rp 4.44 trillion, as quoted by beritajakarta.com. Meanwhile, the remaining budget had earlier been used to cover the 2009 budget, which lacked Rp 1.5 trillion so the rest would be worth Rp 1.24 trillion.
The later figure is expected to cover the 2009 income budget, estimated to reduce by Rp 1.3 trillion.
| 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|