Commitment Fee of Formula E and budget reallocation for Covid-19

Last updated on May 7th, 2021 at 08:38 am

Commission C of the DKI Jakarta Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) has scheduled a meeting with all Regionally Owned Enterprises (BUMD) on Monday, May 11, related to the discussion of budget reallocation that was not running or absorbed this year.

“The budget will be used to overcome Covid-19 in DKI,” said Finance Commission Member, S. Andyka when contacted on Monday, May 11.

According to Andyka, in the Commission’s calculation, the results of the reallocation of the DKI BUMD budget could be included in an unexpected budget of more than Rp 1 trillion for overcoming the Covid-19 outbreak. One budget reallocation will be taken from the implementation budget of Formula E.

“The Formula E budget will be reallocated Rp 207 billion to cope with Covid-19. We will also divert the PDAM budget,” said Andyka.

In addition, the Commission will also ask the DKI Provincial Government to advance the distribution of BUMD dividends this month. Dividend funds will later be used for the Jakarta Smart Card program budget. “From the BUMD dividend, there are around Rp. 750 billion.”

Previously, Secretary General of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA), Misbah Hasan, reminded the DKI government to prioritize the budget to handle Covid-19 rather than unnecessary expenditure in the DKI Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD).

Misbah highlighted that there were still expenditures during January-May 2020 which were considered ineffective in the DKI Regional Budget.

“For example, goods or services are still high Rp. 4.55 trillion while capital expenditures are Rp. 268 billion. These expenditures should be reallocated and refined,” Misbah said, Friday, May 8.

One of these expenditures is used to fund commitment or commitment fees as the host of the implementation of Formula E. Misbah assessed that DKI should withdraw and reallocate the Formula E. budget.

Because, according to him, the international electric car race event was no longer relevant held in Capital City because there was a physical distancing policy. Residents are also advised to avoid the crowd.

“So I think the funds will be withdrawn and allocated to BLT (direct cash assistance) DKI residents,” he said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani said the Provincial Government (Pemprov) of DKI Jakarta asked the central government to cover all social assistance that had been shared between the two parties. The central government initially bailed out 3.6 million residents, while 1.1 million residents were borne by the provincial government.

“Reports from the Coordinating Ministry for PMK, it turns out that DKI who had been willing to cover 1.1 million residents, they do not have a budget and asked the central government to cover some 1.1 million,” Sri Mulyani said in a meeting with a virtual opinion with the House of Representatives Commission XI, Wednesday, May 6.

The statement was immediately denied by the Deputy Chairman of the DKI DPRD M. Taufik, from Gerindra, who at the governor’s election then supported the pair Anies Baswedan-Sandiaga Uno. Taufik said on Friday, May 8 that the provincial government continued to provide social assistance in the amount of Rp700 billion, even earlier than the central government.

Anies Baswedan also denied. The previous day, Thursday, he said, “The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government has provided a budget in the form of BTT (Unexpected Expenditures) amounting to Rp5.032 trillion.

The other party that criticized the commitment fee for the organizer of the Formula was the PSI Faction, which said instead of burdening the center, the provincial government should withdraw the commitment fee that had been paid for the social assistance. According to the dashboard-bpkd.jakarta.go.id page, the provincial government has paid several times: Rp360 billion in December 2019 and Rp200 billion in February 2020.

The prestigious Formula E race is planned to be held on June 6, 2020 with a budget of around Rp1.6 trillion. The details include Rp360 billion for commitment fees to the Formula E federation, Rp934 billion of organizing funds to be managed by the DKI Education and Sports Office (Dispora), then Rp305.2 billion of the organizing fees required by Jakpro. DKI Jakarta itself has been scheduled to host the electric car racing event for five periods, between 2020 and 2024.