Good News For DKI Residents, Even Though Budget Is Running Low, Deputy Governor Riza Promises To Distribute BST If Ordered By The Center

JAKARTA - The distribution of cash social assistance (BST) in the seventh phase is still being questioned by Jakarta residents. Unfortunately, it is reported that DKI's budget is currently running low and it is difficult to disburse BST funds.

However, Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria admitted that the DKI Provincial Government will seek to allocate DKI APBD for BST distribution if there is a central government decision.

"If the budget is the government's job. Whether it exists or not, once the decision has been made, it must be looked for," said Riza at DKI City Hall, Central Jakarta, Friday, September 17.

However, Riza said that the authority to determine the distribution of BST rests with the central government. So, the DKI Provincial Government is still waiting for directions from the center regarding the presence or absence of BST in the next stage.

"This is a joint decision, it cannot be unilateral. We are waiting from the central government regarding social assistance. DKI cannot go to the right, the central government to the left. Everything must be together," he said.

For information, there are 1,844,833 beneficiary families (KPM) who received BST in Jakarta. The DKI Provincial Government distributed BST to 1,007,379 recipients through Bank DKI ATMs. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Social Affairs distributed BST to 837,000 recipients of PT Pos Indonesia.

The last BST distributed was the fifth and sixth stages of Rp. 300 thousand per month in the period of May and June. This two-stage BST delivery was carried out at once, so that residents immediately received Rp600 thousand.

However, until now the DKI Provincial Government has not provided clarity. Head of Commission A of the DKI DPRD, Mujiyono, suspects that the seventh stage of BST disbursement is not clear because the DKI Provincial Government does not have the budget to distribute the assistance in the form of money. "There is no BST yet. As far as I know, the provincial government's cash flow is still not good," said Mujiyono.

Mujiyono explained that the BST budget was allocated from tax revenues that went into the regional treasury. Unfortunately, the current DKI Provincial Government cash is not sufficient. DKI also cannot allocate BST from the unexpected spending budget (BTT) for handling COVID-19 which is currently running low.

"Where does the money come from? The allotment for the COVID-19 response fund, which has been provided is only BST for 4 months, January to April. Then the pandemic continues, it is scraped again, physical work is postponed in order to get Rp623m for BST in May and June "Mujiyono explained.