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Local govts often misspend state budget: VP Kalla
Vice President Jusuf Kalla has condemned local government officials who often misspend state money on luxurious facilities, resulting in a deceleration of the country’s development since the reformation era.
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Vice President Jusuf Kalla has condemned local government officials who often misspend state money on luxurious facilities, resulting in a deceleration of the country’s development since the reformation era. (Antara/Widodo S.Jusuf)
V
ice President Jusuf Kalla has condemned local government officials who often misspend state money on luxurious facilities, resulting in a deceleration of the country’s development since the reformation era.
Despite a massive increase in the state budget for local governments since 1998, the economic growth rate has not followed suit. That means there has been too much money spent on operational costs, Kalla said.
“Before the reformation era, our state budget was only about Rp 200 trillion, with 50 percent of it being allocated for national development. Now, it has increased 10 times to Rp 2 quadrillion, but our economic growth is still insignificant,” he said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The 2016 state budget allocated Rp 770.2 trillion for regional transfer funds and village funds, an increase of 250 percent compared to the Rp 220 trillion in 2006.
However, local officials have often misspent the budget on luxurious bureaucratic facilities, disregarding the infrastructure development needed to improve social welfare, according to Kalla.
“The budget has been spent to build new offices and official residences or buy cars, even though development is supposed to improve social welfare,” he said.
Hence, Kalla has called on regional leaders to implement the smart city concept with advanced technological systems to bring more efficiency and transparency to local administrations. (vps/ags)
