TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – President-elect Joko Widodo has questioned the jaw-dropping budget of Rp37 million for ministerial meetings and travel expenses of government institutions’ officials in the draft state budget for next year. Some Rp18 trillion of the figure is earmarked for meetings alone.
“Imagine if half of the official travel expenses are allocated for other infrastructure development, such as to repair the Java’s northern coastal highway (Pantura) or develop fishermen’s villages,” he told Tempo on Thursday, September 18, 2014.
Jokowi added the budget was so huge that it was hard to imagine it could exceed that for the construction of the mass rapid transit (MRT) project in the capital. The MRT project, which kicked off at the outset of Jokowi’s reign as Jakarta governor, is built under a Rp16 trillion budget loaned from the Japan International Agency.
Jokowi said he would trim the meeting budget in the draft state budget by up to 40 percent. He added he had asked his transition team, which is spearheaded by Rini Mariani Soemarno, to complete its formulation.
Administrative Reforms Minister Azwar Abubakar, meanwhile, said outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has issued a decree signed on May 19, 2014 on state budget retrenchment.
“The government has audited the expenses for official travels and issued a decree to cut the state budget,” he said.
AGUSTINA WIDIARSI | MUHAMMAD MUHYIDDIN | ANANDA TERESIA
