Jakarta must allocate more oil, gas revenue to Irian Jaya

The central government must allocate a greater portion of oil and gas revenue to Irian Jaya as a consequence of the planned special autonomy status for the resource-rich province, according to an informal leader.

Secretary of the Sabang-Merauke Forum (Forsam) Frans Maniagasi was quoted by the Bisnis Indonesia daily Wednesday as saying that Irian Jaya should obtain 65 percent of revenue from its oil resource, and 50 percent revenue from gas resource.

Frans added that Jakarta should also increase the allocation of other source of revenues.

He explained that for the past 30 years, Jakarta had exploited the vast natural resources of Irian Jaya, but the province remained undeveloped.

He said that Irian Jaya needed a greater fund to make some catching up with other provinces.

Frans said that without a greater allocation of oil and gas revenue, the provincial state budget would be in a deficit. He pointed out that out of the total budget spending of around Rp 7 trillion this year, local revenue was only Rp 4.5 trillion.(*)