S

ince late January the Jakarta administration has started disbursing city budget funds to kick off development earlier this year in response to the economic slowdown and lackluster spending seen in 2015.

Jakarta Financial and Asset Management Board (BPKAD) head Heru Budi Hartono said that as of last Friday, his agency has disbursed a total of Rp 564 billion (US$41.4 million) in funds to working units from the total 2016 city budget of Rp 67.1 trillion.

'€œThis year we are starting off much earlier than last year because we stayed on schedule with our budget deliberations,'€ Heru told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

Last year, the city administration and the City Council were embroiled in a bitter dispute over the draft budget. The dispute delayed budget approval in April, and the budget was only disbursed late in May.

Eighty percent of working units had submitted budget disbursement documents, Heru continued, and most of those, such as the Bina Marga (Roads) Agency and the Housing and Government Buildings Agency, were responsible for physical construction projects.

Previously, the Jakarta branch of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) revealed that economic growth in the city has experienced a significant slowdown over the last five years. Jakarta experienced high growth of 6.74 percent in 2011 before slowing down to 6.53 percent in 2012, 6.07 percent in 2013, 5.91 percent in 2014 and 5.88 percent last year.

Newly inaugurated BPS Jakarta head Syech Suhaimi said that the slowdown was caused by the national and global economic slowdown. He explained that the city administration'€™s late budget disbursement and lackluster spending also contributed to the slowdown and advised the Jakarta administration to speed up spending this year.

The city recorded a low spending year in 2015, disbursing 69.97 percent of a targeted Rp 65.7 trillion, or roughly Rp 46 trillion. Last year'€™s spending, however, was an improvement compared to 2014 when just 59.63 percent of a targeted Rp 72.9 trillion was spent, or roughly Rp 43.4 trillion.

'€œAlthough spending in 2015 increased compared to 2014, 69.97 percent is still low. City budget spending can help boost economic growth, especially in the field of construction,'€ Suhaimi said.

The latest data from the Jakarta Goods and Services Procurement Agency (BPPBJ) obtained by the Post shows that as of the end of January, 322 of a total 754 working units in the Jakarta administration had begun processing bidding documents for a total of 6,340 tenders, with a total value of Rp 5.33 trillion. In January, the agency finalized Rp 377 billion worth of tenders for six working units.

The data further shows that the Housing and Government Buildings Agency is currently processing construction bids for 15 low-cost rental apartments (rusunawa) in various locations across Jakarta, such as Rawa Buaya and Tegal Alur in West Jakarta, Cakung Barat and Jatinegara Kaum in East Jakarta, Penggilingan and Marunda in North Jakarta, among many others.

Also, the Bina Marga Agency, which is set to construct five overpasses and three underpasses this year, is preparing relevant documents to begin its bidding process.

The Education Agency has also begun construction bids for the renovation of school buildings, which is conducted in packages.

'€œA number of working units, such as the Housing and Government Buildings Agency, Bina Marga Agency, Water Management Agency and Education Agency, have major construction projects this year. Our target is to finalize Rp 7.12 trillion worth of major construction tenders by May,'€ BPPBJ head Blessmiyanda said.