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Land procurements will boost city spending: Ahok
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (tempo
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Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (tempo.co) (tempo.co)
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (tempo.co)
Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama says that his administration will procure as much land as could possibly be needed for next year's city projects in order to spend as much of the 2015 city budget as possible.
'Due to limited time, we cannot reorganize tenders for city projects,' said Ahok in Jakarta on Thursday as reported by tempo.co.
As of Wednesday, the city had only spent 31.16 percent of its budget ' the lowest spending rate of any region across the country. City secretary Saeful, however, expressed optimism that the city administration could spend more than 60 percent by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, head of City Development Planning Agency Tuty Kusumawati said the city just received a revised version of the 2015 city budget from the Home Affairs Ministry, listing a total of Rp 65.3 trillion (US$47.94 billion) ' down Rp 3.98 trillion from the version approved by the ministry early this year.
The long debate between Ahok and majority of the City Council members during the deliberation of the draft city budget early this year ' which ended in disagreement ' contributed to the meager spending of the city budget this year.
The city budget, which was approved by the Home Affairs Ministry in April, was in the form of a gubernatorial regulation, not a council bylaw as it normally is, because it was not approved by the City Council. According to Ahok, the City Council's version of the draft city budget included many less urgent projects that would've led to inefficiency.
Ahok said that due to limited time, the administration had to cancel infrastructure projects whose tender processes only started in the fourth quarter. Among the projects were the renovation of school buildings and the development of a giant seawall in North Jakarta.
According to Tuty, the school renovation project will be implemented next year, but she still does not know if the giant seawall, worth Rp 1.3 trillion, is to be implemented next year because the project detail have not been drafted.
According to Saeful, the city, though the Water Management Agency and Road Construction Agency, will also purchase a range of heavy equipment to try to boost spending.
Saeful called on other working units under the city administration to boost their respective spending also. 'All agencies should be spurred to speed up their spending,' he added. (bbn)
