DPR Proposes Regional Heads to No Longer Carry Out Road Projects, Here's the Reason

Commission V of the Indonesian House of Representatives has highlighted the inequality in the quality of roads in the regions and the center which is considered to have lasted too long without significant improvements.

In a working meeting with Minister of Public Works Dody Hanggodo and his staff at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, today, the issue of disparities in the condition of provincial and district/city roads became one of the main discussions.

Chairman of Commission V of the House of Representatives, Lasarus, assessed that the problem of regional roads is not merely a matter of availability of budget, but rather more on governance and policy consistency.

He highlighted the fact that in the last two decades, the improvement in the stability of regional roads has been very slow compared to national roads which are relatively stable at high levels.

According to Lasarus, the pattern of decentralization of road development actually creates differences in standards and priorities between regions.

Every change of regional head is often followed by changes in infrastructure budget policies. Thus, development does not run consistently from year to year.

"We have visited several countries. Some countries have the authority to build roads that are not delegated to the local government. It is directly handled by the central government, so what? So that the standards are the same, then the distribution of the road is the same, even, because it is budgeted comprehensively. There is no difference in the head, different policies," said Lasarus at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday, February 4.

The condition of national roads that can be maintained in the range of 96-97 percent of its stability shows that the central government has a more stable managerial and fiscal capacity.

On the other hand, provincial and district/city roads are considered difficult to reach this figure even though regional autonomy funds continue to flow every year.

On the ground, the difference in road quality is very noticeable.

The Presidential Road Instruction (IJD) program funded by the State Budget is easy to recognize, starting from the standard width to the quality of the work is more uniform than the regional project in general.

Lasarus then conveyed the idea of a more fundamental policy change.

"I had a thought before, whether we just revise this road law? So that the provincial road has taken over the center alone, then the regional strategic road is also taken over by the center. Further provisions regarding regional strategic roads are regulated by Government Regulation (PP), so that later the regional authority will only make roads to the villages. There is still regional authority," he said.

The proposal was driven by the view that the Inpres-based approach is not always sustainable.

If there are no new instructions, the program can stop, while the need for road repairs is continuous.

"If the President issues an instruction, there is. But if the Presidential Instruction does not come out, yes, stop the Inpres. But, if he is bound by the Law, whoever the President is, this Law applies, Sir. Because the first duty of the President according to the Constitution is to implement the Constitution and other laws and regulations. So, whoever the President is, this Law is binding," he added.