Aceh asks govt to speed up of disbursement of gas revenues

Aceh province has asked the central government to soon disburse 70 percent of gas revenues from the province into its state coffer, Governor Abdullah Puteh said as reported by Kompas daily on Saturday.

The governor said that he had asked President Megawati Soekarnoputri to speed up the implementation the special autonomy law imposed on the province recently. Only with the implementation of the law, the provincial government would be able to administer the province according to the new law.

President Megawati recently announced the introduction of the special autonomy law in the province, which will among others give more authority to manage the province politically and financially. Under the new law, the province will receive 70 percent of oil and gas revenues.

The governor said he had also asked the central government give all the data on the oil and gas production. According to him, the data from the oil and gas production is needed in drafting the province?s future budget.(*)