Govt to Allocate Rp832.3 Trillion to Boost Regional Development Next Year
President Jokowi in his presentation on the Bill on State Budget 2019 Fiscal Year, at the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia Plenary Meeting, Nusantara Building, Jakarta, Thursday (8/16). (Photo by: Agung/Public Relations).
In a bid to accelerate regional development, the Government next year will allocate Transfer to Regions and Village Funds in the 2019 Bill on the State Budget amounting to Rp832.3 trillion.
This amount is a 9% increase from the estimated realization in 2018 or an increase of 45.1 percent from the realization in 2014 that amounted to Rp573.7 trillion, President Joko Jokowi Widodo said in his presentation on the Bill on State Budget 2019 Fiscal Year at the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia Plenary Meeting, Nusantara Building, Jakarta, Thursday (8/16).
President Jokowi further said in recent years the budget increase for the Transfer to the Regions and Village Funds has been able to improve the performance of basic public services in the regions, which is reflected in the improvement of several indicators of community welfare.
In the period of 2014-2017, for example, according to the President, the Interregional Inequality Index decreased from 0.759 to 0.668, the percentage of childbirths attended by health personnel increased from 87.1 percent to 93.3 percent and the households access to decent sanitation increased from 61.1 percent to 67.9 percent.
In addition, the President continued, through the implementation of the Village Funds which has been allocated since 2015, various infrastructure facilities that are beneficial to the community have been successfully built.
The Village Fund budget realization amounting to Rp127.2 trillion in the 2015-2017 period has been utilized among others to build approximately 124 thousand kilometers of village roads, 791 kilometers of bridges, access to 38.3 thousand clean water units, approximately 3,000 boat mooring units, 18.2 thousand schools for the Early Childhood Education Program (Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini/PAUD), 5.4 thousand Village Maternity Clinics (Poliklinik Desa/Polindes), 6.6 thousand village markets, 28.8 thousand irrigation networks, 11.6 thousand Integrated Service Posts (Pos Pelayanan Terpadu/Posyandu), and approximately 2,000 water retention basins, President Jokowi said.
The Government has also made improvements to the allocation of Village Funds to be more in favor of underdeveloped villages and very underdeveloped villages with a high poor population, the President said.
Furthermore, the President added, the use of the Village Fund was also directed to cash-intensive schemes to strengthen people’s income and purchasing power, as well as improve economic growth and the welfare of village community.
President Jokowi further said that until the first semester of the 2018 Fiscal Year, the realization of the Village Funds has reached Rp35.9 trillion or 59.8 percent of the budget ceiling.
The realization of the funds, according to the President, is among others funded the construction of 5.3 thousand kilometers of village roads, 24.1 kilometers of bridges, access to 6 thousand clean water units, 508 boat mooring units, 1.6 thousand schools for PAUD, 910 Polindes, 845 village markets, 10.8 thousand irrigation networks, 677 Posyandu and 664 water retention basins.
Based on these achievements and coupled with our sustained improvement evaluations, the Government is convinced that with a Rp832.3 trillion budget for the Transfer to the Regions and Village Fund in 2019, we will boost the equitable development throughout our 34 Provinces, 508 Regencies/Municipalities, and 74,957 villages, President Jokowi said. (DNA/AGG/GUN/OJI/UN/ES) (GWH/EP/Naster)
