Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Governor Joko Widodo has been criticized for losing focus on running Southeast Asia's largest city because the of the amount of time he has been forced to spend hashing out coalition terms with other political parties in his bid to become president.

Joko spent time campaigning for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) leading up to the April 9 legislative elections, and will inevitably have to take time away from City Hall to campaign ahead of the presidential election on July 9.

A public-policy analyst at the University of Indonesia said Joko no longer attended some meetings with City officials. "[Joko] is now busy with political consolidation involving his party and other parties – activities outside City Hall," Roy Valiant Salomo said on Tuesday.

Roy said Joko's campaigning was to blame for slow disbursement of the Jakarta budget, although a City employee said the accusation was baseless.

Jakarta's 2014 budget was set at Rp 72 trillion ($6.3 billion), but only 8 percent had been spent some three months after the Jakarta Legislative Council signed off on appropriation, Roy said. "[Political campaigning] has surely impacted on the slow allocation of the Jakarta budget," he said.

Jakarta's Financial Management Board (BPKD) chief Endang Widjajanti said the slow uptake was down to a wholesale change to the procurements system.

Prior to last year, tenders were handled by the relevant city government units. From 2014, all procurement contracts go through a centralized agency – the Jakarta Goods and Services Procurement Unit (ULP Jakarta), which was formed last month.

"All of these contracts depend on the preparedness of the ULP," Endang said. Approximately 7,000 contracts will be tendered through 2014.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/jakarta/joko-takes-flak-losing-jakarta-focus/