Heaptalk, Jakarta — Marking the 23rd anniversary of East Kutai, the Regent Ardiansyah Sulaiman invites all parties to evaluate the development progress that has been achieved in the last year. One of progress is the post-pandemic regional economic growth which shows a positive trend of 2% from -3.21% in 2020 to -1.01% in 2021. The attainment is also supported by an increase in regional investment growth from Rp3.01 trillion to Rp8.9 trillion in 2021.
“The economic condition is a sign of economic improvement in East Kutai Regency. The investment from outside the regency encourages economic growth and creates new job opportunities for the entire community, resulting in new hope for welcoming the more prosperous East Kutai Community,” said Ardiansyah during the plenary session of the Regional People’s Representative Council in Sangatta, East Kutai (11/10).
Facing difficult times, particularly for regional finance, the Government of East Kutai Regency remains optimistic. Ardiansyah mentioned several efforts have been made, spanning increasing efficiency in budgeting and improving the process of controlling development periodically through coffee morning activities.
The Government seeks alternative funding from other sources such as the state budget (APBN) as well as the provincial revenue and expenditure budget (APBD Provinsi) to increase regional fiscal capacity. Besides, East Kutai Government also increases the role of all stakeholders in regional development, including optimizing the Corporate Social Responsibility program, as one of the efforts to face the post-pandemic difficult time.
Despite the existing limitation, East Kutai is committed to providing the optimum service to its community. Ardiansyah delivered, “With inadequate economic growth performed by the nation and regional, as well as limited regional spending capacity, the Government of East Kutai Regency is determined that the administration and implementation of regional development will continue to run well, and can achieve the development targets that have been set.”
The commitment is proven by multiple progress of regional development, one of which is the increase of the human development index (IPM) from 73.00% in 2020 to 73.81% in 2021. The index is a composite indicator of the development of the education, health, and purchasing power sectors. The village development index (IPD) has increased from 63.90% in 2020 to 65.94% in 2021, with underdeveloped villages leaving only 5 villages while the remaining 112 developing villages and 22 independent villages.
In addition, the poverty depth index (P1) decreased from 2.02 in 2020 to 1.64 in 2021. The decreasing index indicates the increment of the average income of the population, resulting in a smaller gap between the poor’s expenditure and the poverty line.
Regardless of the achievement in regional development, East Kutai still faces several critical issues, including the connectivity between regions as some road networks are in a damaged and heavily damaged condition, and the settlement arrangement is not yet optimal, especially environmental roads and urban drainage systems, and many more.
Therefore, the Regent emphasized that collaboration of all stakeholders is necessary to resolve the issues. Ardiansyah said, “We are fully aware that solving problems on these important issues requires full commitment and strong collaboration from all stakeholders, especially in developing and implementing effective strategies.”
The 23rd anniversary of East Kutai carries the theme of Magic Land, which means that East Kutai is a land full of miracles given by God, spanning the beauty and potential of the wealth of the sea and land. The Regent encourages the citizens of East Kutai to be grateful and utilize their wealth wisely to realize public welfare as mandated by the Constitution.
In his closing statement, Ardiansyah expressed his appreciation for the support and suggestions for the achievement of the development goals.
