The Meeting Of Commission V Of The House Of Representatives And The Minister Of Public Works Interrupted A Lot, Highlighting The Jumbonya Of Budget Cuts

JAKARTA - The working meeting (Raker) of the Ministry of Public Works (PU) together with Commission V of the DPR RI took place tough after the rain of interruptions in the discussion of cutting the infrastructure budget to Rp. 81 trillion.

Dalam agenda tersebut, Menteri PU Dody Hanggodo menjelaskan, setidaknya terdapat 21 proyek yang terdampak akibat cutan anggaran.

"The DIPA Ministry of Public Works ceiling, which was originally Rp110.95 trillion, has been utilized at Rp81.38 trillion, so that the remaining total ceiling after efficiency is Rp29.57 trillion," said Dody in a Working Meeting with Commission V DPR RI at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Thursday, February 6.

As a result, it sparked an interruption from members of the Indonesian House of Representatives who assessed that the cuts were too jumbo that it was feared that it would not be able to support the development of national infrastructure that had previously been approved.

The first interruption was opened by the Deputy Chairman of Commission V of the DPR RI from the Nasdem faction, Robert Rouw. He said the amount of budget cuts by the Ministry of Public Works was not in accordance with the commitment to develop village infrastructure facilities that had previously been agreed upon.

"Hearing what was conveyed by the Minister (Dody Hanggodo) that there was a budget for the suspension bridge and road preservation. Finally, he said that there was no suspension bridge. Right, that means it is not consistent, yes, friends, even though my friends know all that the suspension bridge is our hope (to be built in their respective electoral districts)," he said.

For this reason, Robert requested that this meeting only ratify the indicative ceiling after the budget cuts, in which the Ministry of Public Works ceiling only remains at Rp29.57 trillion.

The interruption was also conveyed by Member of Commission V DPR RI from the PDIP faction, Adian Napitupulu. According to him, the Ministry of Public Works's infrastructure budget cuts, which are so large, are very unreasonable.

"We really have to agree with this, right? Because it doesn't make sense to only build 63 kilometers of roads. One year we want to build what?" he said.

He assessed that cutting the budget to reach Rp. 81 trillion would have a major impact on all sectors. Adian also mentioned the government's plan to achieve food self-sufficiency amidst the lack of budget allocations for the development of irrigation areas.

"For example, we talk (Directorate General) of Natural Resources Rp10.7 trillion (the budget), we continue to talk about food security. Meanwhile, the rehabilitation of irrigation networks is only 16,000 hectares out of a large number. It will not be achieved," said Adian.

Responding to this, the Chairman of Commission V DPR RI Lasarus emphasized that today his party will only approve an indicative ceiling after cutting the budget.

Meanwhile, the details of the allocation will be discussed at the next meeting opportunity.

"This meeting must be directed which one we want to discuss first, we will discuss the indicative ceiling first. We will agree to the indicative ceiling first," he said.

Lasarus also said that basically he also did not approve of the Ministry of Public Works' budget cuts, which was too large, reaching up to Rp. 81 trillion.

"We see the rules, the rules may or may not be rejected (for this cutting proposal only). If I am asked whether I agree with the Ministry of Public Works budget (cut) of that amount, 1,000 percent I don't agree, that's when asked to me. But it's not my authority, I'm not the president. We leave this issue to the government first," he concluded.

The House of Representatives Commission V held a Working Meeting with the government regarding the evaluation of the 2024 State Budget Implementation Program and the 2025 Work Program.

Dalam agenda itu, dijadwalkan delapan kementerian dan lembaga untuk memberikan laporannya kepada anggota DPR.

However, the agenda was postponed because members of the meeting agreed to be able to focus on holding meetings with each ministry only.