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Bina Marga, a division of the Public Works Ministry
overseeing the construction and maintenance of the national road
network, will receive the largest allocation from the ministry's 2007
budget with Rp 9.8 trillion (about US$1.06 billion).
Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said Friday the ministry would
receive a total of Rp 24.2 trillion from the 2007 national budget. Only
the defense and education ministries will receive more in 2007.
The Public Works Ministry's total budget consists of Rp 18.5 trillion
in local funds and Rp 5.6 trillion in foreign loans.
Bina Marga's budget allocation will consist of Rp 8 trillion in local
funds and Rp 1.7 trillion in foreign loans.
Some of Bina Marga's budget will go for the maintenance of highways,
which serve as a backbone for the nation's economy. For example, Rp 736
billion will be used to repair and upgrade the Trans-Eastern Sumatra
highway, and Rp 330 billion will go for the Trans-Western Sumatra
highway.
Another Rp 588 billion will be spent maintaining and repairing the
Trans-Northern Java highway (Pantura), Rp 118 billion for the
Trans-Southern Java, Rp 598 billion for the Trans-Southern Kalimantan
and Rp 252 billion for the Trans-Western Sulawesi highway.
One of the ministry's priorities is to speed up the development of
infrastructure nationwide. This includes the maintenance and
construction of roads and dams, with Rp 17 trillion of the ministry's
total budget going into this work.
From 2005 to 2006, Bina Marga developed 4,754 kilometers of new roads
and maintained 33,671 kilometers of roads.
During this same period, the length of roads in need of repair
decreased from 3,844 kilometers to 3,146 kilometers, or from 11 to 9
percent of the overall road network in the country.
Another division of the ministry, Sumber Daya Air, which manages
water-related infrastructure including dams, reservoirs and irrigation
systems, will receive Rp 7.4 trillion in 2007, the second largest
budgetary allocation after Bina Marga.
As of year's end, Rp 1.5 trillion, or 8 percent of the ministry's Rp
19.98 trillion budget for 2006, had yet to be disbursed due to tender
delays.
The disbursement of some funds is still pending due to land procurement
issues in connection with the East Flood Canal project in Jakarta and
the Nagrek highway project in West Java. Other funds remain unused due
to unresolved loan negotiations for the Jati Gede Dam in West Java.
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