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resident Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo is continuing to focus on implementing a tight budget policy next year, as he is instructing governors to cut budget allocations for travel and meetings to make room for more development projects.

Jokowi invited 34 governors to a meeting to hear their input, particularly on existing provincial programs, to consolidate the programs of the central and local administrations on Monday at Bogor Palace, West Java.

Jokowi told the governors, as well as several Cabinet members who also attended the meeting, to cut sections of their budget that were '€œineffective'€, citing an example of a Rp 41 trillion (US$3.3 billion) allocation for officials'€™ travel and meetings in the state budget for next year.

'€œI'€™ve ordered to cut this to Rp 25 trillion because up to now, Rp 22 trillion has been spent [this year]. Therefore, the Rp 25 trillion will be more than enough,'€ Jokowi told reporters on the sidelines of the meeting.

'€œThe remaining Rp 16 trillion is subject to a discussion with the governors to identify the best allocation for the fund.'€

Monday'€™s meeting was a follow-up to Jokowi'€™s first official gathering with the 34 governors as President in early November at the State Palace in Jakarta, in which he told them to thoroughly review regional spending on administrative affairs so that they could allocate more from regional budgets to development expenditure.

At the first gathering, Jokowi delivered a stern message to the governors, telling them to deliver one-stop services to ease business licensing or face fiscal consequences.

Although the country has implemented regional autonomy, the President still controls two allocations '€” special allocation funding (DAK) and the general allocation fund (DAU) '€” which are part of the annual budget, for every region.

Monday'€™s meeting was also held following last week'€™s decision from Jokowi to increase the prices of subsidized fuel in a bid to reallocate ever-increasing funds spent on fuel subsidies to finance the government'€™s development programs.

The amount allocated for fuel subsidies is higher than the country'€™s annual infrastructure spending, which many consider to have had little impact on people'€™s welfare since it mostly benefits car owners who tend to come from the middle class.

The chairman of the Association of Indonesian Provincial Administrations (APPSI) and South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo, said Jokowi had helped them identify efforts to save nearly 30 percent of their local budgets.

'€œThe President guided us to find ways to reach nearly 30 percent efficiency. It is important,'€ Syahrul told reporters. '€œWe need to find ways to synchronize the financing of the central government with provincial, municipal and regental administrations to reach efficiency.'€

National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) head Andrinof Chaniago said such a saving, including the Rp 16 trillion budget cut, would be used to fund infrastructure projects that would be beneficial to the people, particularly those related to efforts to ensure food security.

In a bid to gather more input from the local leaders, Jokowi also said he wanted to hold such meetings monthly.

'€œFor example, we initially wanted to build 30 dams across the country [in a plan initially laid out in the 2015-2019 National Mid-term Development Plan or RPJMN], but many [governors] wanted [more dams during Monday'€™s meeting], so we decided to develop 49 dams,'€ Jokowi said.