The governor has met with staff throughout the past week to discuss budget proposals from the city's agencies and found they were rife with unnecessary spending.
Basuki also found that the agencies were proposing a large number of low-value projects which, by law, do not have to be put out to tender. But the small projects were not urgently required and add up to billions of rupiah.
The
governor cited the city's parks and cemeteries agency's proposal to buy
flower bouquets and floral arrangements, which would cost taxpayers
“tens of billions of rupiah.”
“They want [the flower procurement] to be done through direct appointment, worth a couple of million [of rupiah] each. This is like petty theft. They might as well buy [flowers] on the sidewalk and claim it was through some company and pocket the difference,” he said.
“I told [the agency], why don't we grow our own flowers? And they told me they weren't ready, that they can't grow flowers on their own. If so, then why do they have so many engineers?”
The governor said he also found similar small but wasteful procurements in proposals from the city's education agency, which he called "insane."
“I have scrapped many of their projects,” he added.
Basuki said the education agency had planned to hire private “consultants” and “experts” for hundreds of workshops and projects. In one such project, the agency planned to employ a “computer programmer” to operate a document scanner for four days for a total fee of Rp 12 million ($876).
“My 9-year-old kid can operate [a scanner]. And this person will get paid Rp 400,000 per day per location for a total of 11 locations. This is crazy,” Basuki said.
In another education agency proposal, "there is also a consultant who will get Rp 57 million for six days' work. There is also an English teacher who will get paid Rp 200 million for a training session attended by 20 people. When I asked them where the number comes from they simply said 'oh, we made a miscalculation,'" Basuki continued.
“I replied politely, if you miscalculated this project, maybe you have been miscalculating your other projects too for years and years.”
Basuki said the city would employ an e-catalogue system, which lists how much different types of goods and services cost online. For future budget deliberation, an agency can only specify the types of goods and services it requires and the program will do the math.
“I also want [small procurement projects] to be done in bulk so there will be an actual tender process,” he said.
Since becoming governor of Jakarta a year ago, Basuki has been attempting to reform the proposal process and the city budget, which he said has long been riddled with “phantom projects."
A similar effort last year put him at odds with City Council members and dragged out the budget deliberation process for months beyond the year-end deadline.
For the next fiscal year, Basuki has already slashed the budget for the city's tourism and culture agency and the industry and energy agency.
“They want [the flower procurement] to be done through direct appointment, worth a couple of million [of rupiah] each. This is like petty theft. They might as well buy [flowers] on the sidewalk and claim it was through some company and pocket the difference,” he said.
“I told [the agency], why don't we grow our own flowers? And they told me they weren't ready, that they can't grow flowers on their own. If so, then why do they have so many engineers?”
The governor said he also found similar small but wasteful procurements in proposals from the city's education agency, which he called "insane."
“I have scrapped many of their projects,” he added.
Basuki said the education agency had planned to hire private “consultants” and “experts” for hundreds of workshops and projects. In one such project, the agency planned to employ a “computer programmer” to operate a document scanner for four days for a total fee of Rp 12 million ($876).
“My 9-year-old kid can operate [a scanner]. And this person will get paid Rp 400,000 per day per location for a total of 11 locations. This is crazy,” Basuki said.
In another education agency proposal, "there is also a consultant who will get Rp 57 million for six days' work. There is also an English teacher who will get paid Rp 200 million for a training session attended by 20 people. When I asked them where the number comes from they simply said 'oh, we made a miscalculation,'" Basuki continued.
“I replied politely, if you miscalculated this project, maybe you have been miscalculating your other projects too for years and years.”
Basuki said the city would employ an e-catalogue system, which lists how much different types of goods and services cost online. For future budget deliberation, an agency can only specify the types of goods and services it requires and the program will do the math.
“I also want [small procurement projects] to be done in bulk so there will be an actual tender process,” he said.
Since becoming governor of Jakarta a year ago, Basuki has been attempting to reform the proposal process and the city budget, which he said has long been riddled with “phantom projects."
A similar effort last year put him at odds with City Council members and dragged out the budget deliberation process for months beyond the year-end deadline.
For the next fiscal year, Basuki has already slashed the budget for the city's tourism and culture agency and the industry and energy agency.
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