Dewanti A. Wardhani, Jakarta – The Jakarta administration for the first time in history has failed to secure approval from the City Council for a draft budget and is set to use the revised 2014 budget ceiling of Rp 72.9 trillion (US$5.6 billion).

The decision was made final following an official letter of disapproval issued by the City Council on Monday.

On the same day, Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja, accompanied by his subordinates, submitted a new draft budget to the Home Ministry. The draft budget consisted of programs in the draft 2015 city budget that had been downsized by Rp 180 billion to fit the 2014 budget ceiling. He said discussion on the new draft budget would commence on Tuesday.

"Starting Tuesday, the city administration and the Home Ministry will evaluate the draft for 15 working days," Ahok said at City Hall on Monday after submitting the documents to the ministry. He went on to say that the budget was scheduled to be disbursed in late April.

Before heading to the ministry, Ahok paid a visit to the Vice President's office, located next to City Hall, to discuss the budget dispute. Later in the day, Vice President Jusuf Kalla also met with City Council Speaker Prasetio Edi Marsudi to discuss the same issue. However, no resolution was achieved after the meeting.

Ahok reiterated that no major programs would be disrupted. He gave his assurances that school renovation programs, a new civil servants' allowance system and the mass rapid transit (MRT) project would continue smoothly. Instead, he said, using the 2014 budget ceiling would be an advantage for the city administration because "the councilors could not force civil servants to input sneaky budget [entries]".

Ahok also promised that this year's spending would be higher than it was in 2014 because programs in 2015 had undergone numerous efficiencies in order to fix the 2014 budget ceiling. The city administration could also revise the budget at midyear, he said.

However, Ahok acknowledged that the city administration would be forced to cut allocations for a number of programs, such as land acquisition. He said that if the tax agency collected more money than targeted, the city would not be able to use the extra money.

Separately, Prasetio confirmed that he had eventually decided to disapprove of the draft budget despite declaring support for Ahok last week. He said the main reason behind the disapproval was because the city was late in submitting the improved draft to councilors. Prasetio confirmed that he had sent an official letter on the disapproval to Ahok and the Home Ministry.

"We waited since 2 p.m. on Friday, but the city administration only gave us the draft after 8 p.m. This shows that the city administration is not serious. Pak Ahok, who is my good friend, also lacks manners and is inconsistent," Prasetio told a press conference at the City Council building.

Ahok previously refused to take the blame, and said that the city had complied with the councilors' antics, such as providing them with a soft copy of the draft budget and later printing 6,600 pages of the document for each of the nine factions. Such requests, Ahok had said, wasted time that could have been used for discussions.

Prasetio said that the City Council would keep a close watch on the city administration in implementing the budget, and vowed to prevent the administration from misusing money. "I assure you we will be keeping a close watch on the city administration," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/03/24/saga-ends-with-city-using-2014-budget.html