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House mulls mega-project postponement

The House of Representatives is beginning to soften its stance on its new building project plan after the government admitted to a lack of funding options

Tama Salim and Margareth S. Aritonang (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, August 26, 2015

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House mulls mega-project postponement

T

he House of Representatives is beginning to soften its stance on its new building project plan after the government admitted to a lack of funding options.

According to House Budget Committee (Banggar) chairman, Ahmadi Noor Supit, the House would continue to look for solutions to finance its project, despite having conceded that both the government and lawmakers had agreed to focus on making strides in regional development instead.

'€œWe have agreed to focus on developing the regions, because apart from providing social justice, we have to consider equitable development to bridge the social gap among the regions and [support] government programs that benefit the people,'€ Ahmadi told reporters on the sidelines of a plenary meeting on Tuesday.

Ahmadi said that Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro had met with House leaders and Banggar in a consultation meeting on Monday night to discuss a number of pertinent issues concerning the state budget proposal, including the possibility of financing the House complex revamp project through other means besides allocating a fixed post in the state budget.

'€œWe'€™ve only proposed a total of Rp 600 to 700 billion [US$50 million] and last night the Finance Minister wanted to know whether there were any optimalization [funds] we could use, because right now there is little fiscal space that we can utilize due to the state'€™s diminished tax revenues,'€ he said. '€œWe'€™ll discuss it first and see what we can push to increase state revenues.'€

Optimalization funds are funds skimmed from state budget allocations that are deemed superfluous by legislators.

National Planning Agency (Bappenas) head Sofyan Djalil declined to comment, but pointed out that such funds were '€œhard to rationalize'€ to begin with.

The House had insisted on sticking to its plan to modernize the legislative building complex in Senayan despite President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s refusal to support the estimated Rp 1.6 trillion project.

The House'€™s Domestic Affairs Committee (BURT), which is in charge of the project and has pursued the process since January, is moving forward with plans to construct a '€œcivic square'€ to be named Alun-Alun Demokrasi, in addition to a planned museum and library, an information and study center and improved offices for lawmakers and their staff.

BURT chairman Roem Kono said before the plenary that the House would prioritize upgrading the building first, arguing that the current building was no longer fit for use.

When asked whether the project could be postponed due to the current economic downturn, Roem indicated that the project would continue because the people wanted it. '€œThey [the government] will understand. This has to do with establishing a modern House of Representatives,'€ he said.

Separately, the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA) rejected the House'€™s renovation plans because there was no urgency for the government to justify channeling funds into the project.

FITRA secretary-general Yenny Sucipto lambasted the plan, arguing that the project was merely an indulgence for the political elite.

'€œIf we speak about urgency, then there is none at the moment. We haven'€™t even achieved self-reliance in food, and the fiscal space is quite small. If it doesn'€™t bring anything for Jokowi'€™s Nawacita programs, then it isn'€™t urgent,'€ Yenny told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Yenny said that funds for the House project would be better spent supporting the government'€™s plans for public housing or healthcare. Based on merit alone, she said that legislators were not even close to meeting their target of producing 37 pieces of priority legislation.

'€œThis country will collapse if this goes on,'€ she said.

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