Minister Of Public Works Reveals 10 Impacts Of The Impact Of Jumbo Budget Cuts Of IDR 81.38 Trillion

The budget of the Ministry of Public Works (PU) was cut very large due to the efficiency in the government of President Prabowo Subianto. The budget at the Ministry of Public Works was cut by Rp. 81.38 trillion, leaving Rp. 29.57 trillion from the previous total ceiling of Rp. 110.95 trillion.

PU Minister Dody Hanggodo stated that the existence of budget efficiency had an impact on 10 changes in work patterns at the Ministry of Public Works. The details include cancellation of physical development activities and implementation of non-priority activities.

"One is the cancellation of new single year contract (SYC) physical activities and new multi years contract (MYC) sourced from pure rupiah. Second, cancellation of heavy equipment purchases. We are now only optimizing existing heavy equipment," said Dody, written on Friday, February 7.

Third, the use of emergency response funds that is more effective and efficient. Fourth, limitation of official travel that applies to domestic and foreign activities.

"Fifth, significantly reduce the spending of stationery and office tools (ATK) towards paperless office," said Dody.

Sixth, eliminating all ceremonial activities. Seventh, the implementation of work meetings, coordination meetings to the implementation of socialization will be carried out online. Eighth, eliminating public relations spending that is lacking or not a priority, such as banner printing, banners, seminar kits and so on.

"The ninth, operational spending efficiency, both office services, purchase and maintenance, vehicle rental and so on. Tenth, efficiency of non-operational spending that participates in activity output fees, basic consultants, analysis studies and so on," he said.

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 you 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. What do we want to build for one year?" He explained.

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.