JAKARTA - The government continues to mature the readiness of the supply chain of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) program. Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa emphasized that the Nutrition Fulfillment Service Unit (SPPG) was encouraged to empower People's Production Centers, Village Owned Enterprises (BUMDes), and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (UMKM).
This strategic step was taken to strengthen local logistics and ensure that food materials for the MBG program are absorbed directly from the nearest producers.
"The government has encouraged SPPG to empower the People's Production Center, BUMDes, MSMEs, and local suppliers to absorb food directly from farmers, livestock farmers, and fishermen around the SPPG location," said Purbaya in the 25th DPR Plenary Meeting of the V Session in Jakarta, Tuesday.
According to Purbaya, the involvement of this regional business ecosystem aims to improve the food distribution channel and increase logistics capacity, so that the economic turnover is directly felt by the local community.
Distribution Challenge in 3T Region
The Minister of Finance did not deny the obstacles at the initial stage of implementing this national-scale program. The government noted that the biggest challenge at this time is based on the readiness of logistics infrastructure and food distribution channels.
This condition is of special concern, especially for implementation in the Frontier, Outermost, and Lagging Regions (3T) which have limited access to transportation and storage facilities.
The Ministry of Finance Forms a Special Team to Monitor the MBG Budget
To ensure the effectiveness of governance and prevent budget leaks, the Ministry of Finance has formed a special supervisory team. This team will closely monitor the use of funds for the Free Nutritious Meal program throughout Indonesia.
The field supervision process will optimize the regional network of the Directorate General of Treasury (DJPb) and the Directorate General of State Assets (DJKN) at the district and city levels.
"So the supervision will be more structured. The supervisor is not the BGN (National Nutrition Agency) itself, but from where I am (the Ministry of Finance). We will not be close. If the BGN itself is supervised, there is a vested interest (conflict of interest)," said Purbaya in a previous media briefing.
Two-Monthly Evaluation and Strict Sanctions
The Ministry of Finance schedules periodic evaluations every two months to monitor the absorption of the budget and the realization of the MBG program in the field. The government ensures that it will not tolerate SPPGs that are proven to have committed violations or have problems in implementation in the regions.
In addition to tightening the supervision function, the Ministry of Finance also stated its readiness to send human resources (HR) assistance in the field of finance. This assistance is prepared if BGN needs additional assistance in budget management and reporting.
This tightening of supervision was taken after the Head of BGN, Nanik S. Deyang, met with the Minister of Finance to coordinate a number of supervision obstacles that were commonly found at the regional level.
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