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Jakarta Post

Revised budget deliberation accelerated ahead of term-end

As their five-year term is coming to an end, sitting Jakarta legislative councillors are speeding up the deliberation of the 2019 revised budget proposed by the Jakarta administration to fund projects for the remaining year

Sausan Atika (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, August 22, 2019

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Revised budget deliberation accelerated ahead of term-end

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span>As their five-year term is coming to an end, sitting Jakarta legislative councillors are speeding up the deliberation of the 2019 revised budget proposed by the Jakarta administration to fund projects for the remaining year.

The City Council and the administration are conducting back-to-back deliberation meetings to have the 2019 revised budget endorsed before the councillors’ term ends on Aug. 26. The new elected councilors for the next five-year term will be inaugurated that day.

The city administration has proposed to the council the revised budget of Rp 86.89 trillion (US$6.09 billion), down 2.37 percent from Rp 89 trillion set in the 2019 city budget.

The proposed budget is aimed at improving services to the public, as well as accelerate targets of the city’s mid-term development plan, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said in his speech in a plenary meeting on Monday.

“The decrease applies for forecasted activities that cannot be completed this year on the back of technical or administrative issues, adjustments to multiyear projects and programs to be financed by the central government,” he said.

In the proposed revised budget, the city scraps several budget items, including the continuation of the long-delayed traffic restriction policy called electronic road pricing.

Due to its failed tender, the Attorney’s General Office in July issued legal recommendations to the city administration to cancel the tender and open a new one for next year. The administration officially cancelled the tender on Aug. 1.

The city also seeks to conduct a review of the road pricing scheme, which will be included in the next year’s budget, Jakarta Transportation Agency head Syafrin Liputo said.

In the revised budget, the city also proposed increases to the budget for, among other things, land acquisition for reservoirs and ponds from Rp 350 billion to Rp 583.17 billion.

Jakarta Water Management Agency head Juaini was upbeat the agency would completely disburse the whole budget by the end of the year. The agency recorded 61.7 percent budget spending last year, the least among other working units, due to the slow disbursement for land acquisition.

“To bolster spending, now we are targeting land acquisition progress monthly,” Juaini told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The city administration also proposed a decline in budget this year for multiyear projects for the Jakarta Housing and Settlement Agency, mainly related to the development of rusun (low-cost apartments), from Rp 897 billion to Rp 367.6 billion.

Agency head Kelik Indriyanto explained during a budget meeting at the City Council on Tuesday that the rusun programs were still under tender.The agency is expecting contract signings in October, thus the construction would be carried out next year.

Having been subject to discussion in recent weeks, the plan for Jakarta to host the electric car race Formula E was also revealed during the deliberation as the city proposed an amount of 20 million pounds ($24.25 million), equal to Rp 354 billion, as an additional budget item to pay for the commitment fee to the organizer, the International Automobile Federation.

The proposed allocation had a mixed response from councillors. Some argued the event would contribute to the city economy, while others questioned the requisite of such a high budget.

Ahmad Ruslan from the National Awakening Party (PKB) lauded the revised budget earmarked to improve service in city-owned hospitals and health centers, and the raised school funds, but said the sporting event was unnecessary.

“Paying a commitment fee using the city budget to host an international race in 2020 is so irrelevant as we [the PKB] consider this event is excluded from the obligation of public service,” he said.

Anies responded by citing the Youth and Sports Ministry’s recommendation on the requirement to fund the event using the city budget.

He added that the event could line Jakarta up among worldwide megapolitan cities, as well as boost tourism and the city’s economy.

“This event will also be a low carbon emission campaign,” he said.

The proposed revised budget is still subject to change as the city administration and councillors are currently deliberating it. The council is targeting to hold a plenary meeting to endorse the 2019 revised budget this week.

The administration has disbursed 34.41 percent of this year’s budget spending from a total of Rp 80.90 trillion as of June.

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