REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the government could save Rp34 trillion by increasing efficiency in government expenditures to accelerate infrastructure development.

"If control on government expenditures could be done like in 2016 we may get Rp34 trillion which could be used for other expenditures," she said here on Tuesday.

She said estimates on the additional income could come from relocation of non-urgent spending and not from saving or budget cut.

"So, it is not cut but used for projects ordered by the President and national priority programs such as land purchase and multi-years contracts which all need significant budget," she said.

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She said efficiency would also be done in 2018 in line with the instruction of the President who wished to increase the ceiling of allocation for capital spending to accelerate development of toll roads and other transportation facilities.

"We are still discussing with the National Development Planning Board and ministries. The reallocation of budget is done to reflect priorities. The emphasis now is for planning 2018," she said.

The government has tried to boost infrastructure development by establishing State Assets Management Institute (LMAN) to accelerate realization of land procurement that has so far been hindered due to funding problems.

LMAN is established to address land procurement that could not be done using multi-years funds that stakeholders often complain about as land procurement takes time.

LMAN has given supports through investment funding for land procurement for development for public interests and national strategic projects worth Rp16 trillion in the 2016 revised budget and Rp20 trillion in the 2017 budget.

Infrastructure demand put in the 2015-2019 development plan reaches Rp4,796 trillion and 41 percent of it could be met using national and regional budgets while the rest 22 percent from state-owned companies and 36.5 percent from the private sectors.

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