Jakarta, Aug 17 (Antara) - The Indonesian government plans to increase
its infrastructure development budget to Rp208 trillion in 2014, from
Rp180 trillion this year, in an effort to boost the nation's economic
growth.
In addition to setting aside Rp208 trillion for infrastructure projects
in the draft 2014 state budget, the government will also make available
Rp18.4 trillion, with some Rp11 trillion to be used for infrastructure
projects.
"We
are aware of the fact that the development of infrastructure is still
far from enough. We often feel this as an impediment in carrying out our
socioeconomic programs," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said when
delivering the government's financial notes and draft 2014 state budget
here on Friday.
According to Chief Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa, the Rp208 trillion
allocation has not yet included regional budget funding for local
infrastructure development. "So, the Rp208 trillion is a state budget
for the central government's infrastructure development," he said.
"Next year's Rp208-trillion includes a big budget for infrastructure
development, bigger than the budget for the same sector set in 2013,"
the minister added.
Additionally, the government has prepared Rp18.4 trillion as fiscal
space funds to be used by ministries and state institutions to develop
infrastructure facilities.
Head of the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) Armida S
Alisjahbana reported that the fiscal space budget in 2014 was set at
Rp21.9 trillion.
"The posture of the 2014 state budget is healthier than that of 2013
because the government has prepared an additional fiscal space of Rp21.9
trillion," she said.
She noted that the funds designated in the fiscal space were divided
into two parts. One part amounted to Rp18.4 trillion, most of which is
for ministries and state institutions to develop their infrastructure
projects, while the remaining Rp3.5 trillion is for regional budgets.
"About Rp11 trillion of the Rp18.4 trillion is additional expenditures
on infrastructure programs for ministries and state institutions," said
Armida.
Minister Hatta said that the Rp208 trillion would be used to develop
basic infrastructure facilities, such as clean water purification and
irrigation systems for developing rural areas. "It will also be used to
build transportation infrastructure facilities," he added.
According to President Yudhoyono, in 2014 the government will intensify
the development of infrastructure and continue the construction of a
number of large scale infrastructure projects across the country which
are now underway, including expansion of a number of airports, seaports
and their supporting facilities. "The projects also includes toll roads
and double track railways," the President said.
Yudhoyono noted that the government will continue developing 3,854.3 km
of highways in Sumatra, Java, Bali, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara
and Papua.
"We are also building 329.9 km of bridges," the President said.
Two ministries play very important roles in the construction of
infrastructure projects, including the ministry of public works and the
ministry of transportation.
In the draft 2014 state budget, the ministry of public works will
receive Rp74.90 trillion, while the ministry of transportation will be
allocated Rp39.2 trillion.
The government set aside Rp74.90 trillion for the public works ministry
in 2014 in an effort to boost the development of infrastructure, which
often hampers economic development. The large allocation is also
intended to build connectivity through the construction of additional
roads.
The ministry of Transportation also received a relatively large
allocation of Rp39.2 trillion. It is included in the six ministries
which receive large allocations in the draft 2014 state budget.
These six ministries, as announced by President Yudhoyono on Friday,
are the Defense Ministry (Rp83.4 trillion), the Education and Culture
Ministry (Rp82.7 trillion), the Public Works Ministry (Rp74.9 trillion),
the Religious Affairs Ministry (Rp49.6 trillion), the Ministry of
Health (Rp44.9 trillion) and the Ministry of Transportation (Rp39.2
trillion).
Further, in the draft 2014 state budget announced by the President on
Friday, the government set state revenues at Rp1,662.5 trillion and
expenditures at Rp1,816.7 trillion, with a deficit of Rp154.2 trillion.
Earlier, House Speaker Marzuki Alie urged the government to give
priority to infrastructure development in the drafting of the state
budget in an effort to stimulate Indonesia¿s economic growth.
"The government must give priority to overcoming infrastructure
problems, because infrastructure will have an impact on the whole
process of economic growth. Infrastructure problems should be overcome
through a comprehensive, coordinated and effective strategy by
government agencies," Marzuki Alie said, when opening the House plenary
session to hear the President's financial notes address on Friday.
Marzuki said that, considering the global economic slowdown beginning
in 2008, the government should focus on managing the domestic economy by
adopting an effective fiscal stimulus.
He said that the government should also focus its expenditures on
productive activities and programs, such as directing capital
expenditure to develop infrastructure and boosting the public¿s
standards of living through non-energy subsidies.
In the meantime, economist Enny Sri Hartati of the Institute of
Development Economic and Finance (Indef) said the allocation
of infrastructure development funds is beneficial for improving the
lives of people in villages, particularly since the budget that would be
use for rural development.
But
the allocation should be distributed transparently, without political
considerations, Enny added. After all, most officials in the ministries
came from political parties.
"We
are afraid that infrastructure funding would become a political party
funding source. Of course, this is only an opinion and might not always
be true," Enny was quoted as saying by INILAH.COM online media on
Friday.***4*** |
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