JAKARTA. The government will accelerate some projects in the early of 2017. Government also has conducted the early bidding process for some project to maximize the budget absorptions in the first quarter of 2017.
Not wasting time, on Wednesday (7/12), the government handed over 2017 Budget Implementation Checklist to ministries / agencies (K / L), with a worth of Rp 763.6 trillion projects. Therefore, all ministries and agencies, as well as the budget implementers can realize their projects in an immediate manner.
During the recent two months, the government has conducted tenders on several infrastructure projects for 2017. Ministry of Finance revealed that as of October the government has conducted tenders of 2,955 project packages with the total worth of Rp 18.54 trillion. In November 2016, the government has also conducted tenders of 1,964 project packages with the total worth of Rp 13.56 trillion. The government also plans to conduct tenders of 1,376 packages with a total worth of Rp 7.05 trillion in December.
The tenders included the infrastructure projects of Ministry of Public Works and People’s Housing. The government has allocated Rp 101.49 trillion funds for 2017 budget of the ministry. Minister of Public Works and People’s Housing Basuki Hadimuljono said that he will sign Rp 31 trillion worth of contracts of the infrastructure projects starting from January 2017.
The contracts include a Rp 19 trillion worth of multi-year projects and a Rp 22.1 trillion worth of 3,419 packages of new projects, which have been tendered as of October 2016. "I hope the projects can start soon after the contracts are signed,” Basuki said on Wednesday (7/12). The projects include the constructions of toll roads and non-toll roads.
Aside of the Ministry of Public Works and People’s Housing, the Ministry of Agriculture will also soon conduct tenders of several irrigation and pond construction projects. Minister of Agriculture Suleiman Amran said that the ministry will sign the projects’ contracts in the first week of January 2017.
Director of Institute for Development of Economic and Finanve (Indef) Enny Sri Hartati said that the early tenders of infrastructure projects may support the economy at the beginning of the year. The contract signing in the early 2017 is expected to accelerate the project realization. This may absorb employment and, “The disbursement of government budgets may stimulate the economy,” Enny said.
However, Enny reminded that the projects have to be implemented in a proper manner. In other words, the projects have to be prepared carefully starting from the planning to the construction processes. Otherwise, “The projects implementation will not be effective,” she said.
(Muhammad Farid/Translator)
