J

akarta plans to request additional budget of up to Rp 2 trillion (US$204 million) in for education, sanitation and the rehabilitation of public facilities.

In January, the City Council approved a 20.8 percent increase to the 2013 budget to Rp 50 trillion from last year's Rp 41.4 trillion. The approved budget is higher than the Rp 46.9 trillion initially proposed by the administration.

The extra Rp 3.1 trillion was a reserve against the developing situations in the city, including flooding and traffic issues, the council said.

Deputy Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama said that he would allocate the additional funds to four institutions; education, sanitation and public works and city-owned market operator PD Pasar Jaya.

The sanitation agency will be given additional funds to procure new garbage trucks as the current fleet have been operating for too long and have never have been overhauled.

'As the new bylaw on waste had been endorsed, we will need new trucks,' Ahok said at City Hall on Tuesday.

The city also plans to acquire some private schools on the brink of closure due to shortages of funds.

'Some private schools lack students because their fees are too high. We plan to acquire these institutions rather than simply see schools being sold and torn down to become apartment buildings,' he said.

The schools in question will become city-owned and administered by the education authority in the same way as any other school.

Ahok said that some of the schools targeted for acquisition could not meet the minimum 2,500 square meter requirement.

The education agency will combine those into one larger school, he said.

The public works agency will receive part of the additional funds for the construction of low-cost apartments, river dredging and slum renovation.

PD Pasar Jaya markets will also be renovated using the proposed funds.

Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has set an ambitious target of spending 95 percent of the budget by optimizing the online procurement system and imposing strict control mechanisms.

The figure represents a 10 point increase from the 85 percent recorded last year under the tenure of Jokowi's predecessor, Fauzi Bowo.

Jokowi and Ahok have started online tax payments for restaurants, hotels and for parking.

The two hope to substantially reduce to amount lost to corruption and increase the city's income this year.

The city has around 57,000 programs running in 2013, including Jokowi's priority programs. The governor wants to complete all programs by November.

Among the top programs are wholesale dredging to address the state of rivers and lakes in the capital, the excavation of innumerable percolation pits, redevelopment of slums and the expansion of the Transjakarta fleet.

Jokowi's battle against corruption appears to having some success.

Late last month during a visit to the City Hall, Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chief Bambang Widjojanto praised Jokowi for disseminating information on the city budget to the lowest levels of government, saying it was a good example of bureaucratic transparency.

Late last month, the Supreme Audit Agency's (BPK) Jakarta representative office issued a qualified opinion of its review of the 2012 financial report, in which it said only a few problems were found.