Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – The city council is planning to spend US$1.4 million to install red and white lights and new pipes in the city's most famous fountain.

But less than half that amount has been allocated this year to repair the city's woefully inadequate flood-control system, mere weeks after floods killed dozens of people and caused millions of dollars worth of damage. The flood-control project given the green light is a new dam in North Jakarta, which will cost US$600,000.

Work on the Hotel Indonesia fountain, a famous landmark for Jakarta's demonstrations, began a week ago. The authorities wish to complete the renovation before Jakarta's 475th anniversary celebrations on June 20. City council officials said the hefty renovation bill was due to a new water-spout configuration, underwater lighting in the colours of the Indonesian flag – red and white – an additional tier for the currently single-level pool, and new cables and nozzles.

But few local politicians could explain why so much was being spent on fountain renovations when the Jakarta government supposedly lacked 12 billion rupiah (S$2.4 million) to complete construction of the East Flood Canal – crucial for preventing huge floods in the future.

The East Flood Canal is part of a network of canals that Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso promised to build after the disastrous floods. The canals are meant to collect water from the city's 13 highland rivers and channel it into the Java Sea.

One politician, who was asked why the government was spending so much on fountain renovations and so little on constructing new canals, said the canal project was too costly. "The problem with the floods is that it takes a long time to fund it. We need to buy up land and we haven't yet bought it from the community," said Ms Anna Rudiantika, head of Parliament's budget commission. Ms Anna said unless the central government stepped in to help with the funding, it could take 10 years to build the East Flood Canal.

Mr Aloysius Susanto from Jakarta's parks department argued that since the funding for the fountain came from income collected from billboard advertisements and not from taxes, the council was therefore free to use the money as it saw fit.

Non-government groups and newspapers have criticised the government's focus on beautifying Jakarta's main thoroughfare rather than building vital infrastructure. "Jakarta needs to fix the canals, it doesn't need to buy more spouts for the Hotel Indonesia fountain," said Mr Teten Masduki, director of Indonesian Corruption Watch.

"You can see from this project the government can use the budget for whatever purpose it wants. There is no control from the Parliament," said Mr Teten, who accused Parliament and the Jakarta administration of collusion. He alleged that the city administration had effectively bribed Parliament to turn a blind eye to such expenditures by giving 17.8 billion rupiah to fund Mr Sutiyoso's speeches and local parliamentary meetings.

The Jakarta Post in an editorial on Saturday also lambasted Jakarta's governor and administration. It said there were few attempts to improve the city's infrastructure and solve problems such as pollution and regular flooding, to the point that living in the capital had become almost unbearable.