To Stop the Bleeding

Transportation Minister Ignatius Jonan has carefully calculated his ministry's mandatory budget cut this year. A number of infrastructure projects originally scheduled to break ground have been cancelled, including the 1,550-kilometer Trans-Papua rail project. "There is no urgency for this project right now," Jonan told Tempo at his office last Wednesday.

A similar step was taken by the public works and public housing ministry. The ministry's secretary-general, Widjoyono Taufik, has revised several of the development targets and listed some of the projects to be suspended. "We have finished it and will submit it to the House of Representatives (DPR) for approval," Taufik said. Generally, he said, suspended annual projects are those that have not yet been contracted.

June 21, 2016