56,000 state assets still missing: Ministry

ASET NEGARA - JAKARTA. The Public Works and Housing Ministry has said it was still trying to find some 56,000 missing state assets under its control.

“We are coordinating with the relevant institutions to find the assets,” Public Works and Housing Ministry secretary-general Anita Firmanti said in Jakarta on Thursday, on the sideline of the state asset handover ceremony from the ministry to other institutions.

Anita said the ministry currently controlled about 40 percent of state assets across the country.

She said the ministry would further investigate the assets that had not been found because she believed they might be used or controlled by other government institutions.

She pointed to a case where a regional government had constructed an irrigation facility on a plot of land originally controlled by the ministry.

“It means that the assets are still there, but we need to do research to find them,” Anita said as reported by kompas.com.

Accelerating the handover of ministry assets to other institutions, including to regional administrations, would help in better managing those assets because it would be clear which institutions control them, she added.

A lack of clarity over who is responsible for state assets often sparks problems in the assets’ management and maintenance. She said the maintenance of low-cost apartments, for example, often causes disputes between the central and regional governments.

Regional administrations often refuse to repair or to carry out maintenance of low-cost apartments in their regions.

“The problem is that the central government does not allocate a budget to carry out repairs or maintenance of low-cost apartments,” she added.