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City Council surpasses legislation target as term ends
The City Council has endorsed 18 draft bylaws, surpassing the legislation target set in its last year in office, with the 2009-2014 term due to end next week
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he City Council has endorsed 18 draft bylaws, surpassing the legislation target set in its last year in office, with the 2009-2014 term due to end next week.
City Council speaker Ferrial Sofyan said that the Council's Legislation Agency (Balegda) had surpassed its target of endorsing 15 bylaws over the past year.
'Over the past year, Balegda has endorsed 18 bylaws, passing its initial target of 15. This is a commendable achievement,' Ferrial said as he concluded a plenary session at the City Council on Thursday.
The plenary session, which endorsed six new bylaws, was the last for the outgoing council, whose five-year term will end on Monday.
Ferrial also expressed his best wishes to the city administration.
'We hope that the bylaws that we have endorsed will support the city administration's work,' he said.
The new bylaws concern the organization of the city agencies, Bank DKI's change in legal status and government investment participation (PMP) for five city-owned companies, namely bus rapid transit operator PT Transjakarta, construction companies PT Pembangunan Jaya Ancol and PT Jakarta Propertindo, Bank DKI and traditional market operator PD Pasar Jaya.
The bylaw on city agencies will allow the axing and integration of up to 1,500 positions within the city administration, as part of wider bureaucratic reform.
The city-owned companies will gain additional investment or base capital from Rp 500 billion (US$42.76 million) to Rp 5.2 trillion, considered necessary due to the companies' planned expansion.
PT Pembangunan Sarana Jaya president director Gatot Setyo Waluyo said that the additional government investment would provide adequate space for the company to design its business plan.
'This year, we plan to conduct a thorough study of our business plan and financial options. The endorsement will give us flexibility to do so,' Gatot told The Jakarta Post after the plenary session.
PT Pembangunan Sarana Jaya aims to develop a world-class theme park on planned artificial islets off the capital's north coast, with a proposed budget set at Rp 1.6 trillion.
The company is considering several options to obtain the funds needed to finance the project.
'We are consider issuing rights or bonds or forming a strategic partnership,' he said.
Meanwhile, PT Transjakarta president director Antonius NS Kosasih said that the company, which was established earlier this year, would procure up to 400 new buses next year.
'We want to procure up to 1,000, but bus manufacturers have limitations ' each manufacturer can only produce around 100 buses a year,' he said.
Antonius pointed out that up to 148 new articulated buses would arrive in October. The number, however, was deemed insufficient.
'We will have 148 new articulated buses, but there are 250 aging buses that have to be scrapped,' he said.
Gatot added that in the near future, the company would review its routes and contracts with operators.
'We might need to reroute Corridor 1 [serving Blok M-Kota Tua], as the route overlaps with the future mass rapid transit [MRT] route [connecting Lebak Bulus and Hotel Indonesia traffic circle]. Such changes will affect existing contracts with operators,' he said.
