REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BADUNG -- President Joko Widodo instructed all village heads directly to utilize the village funds on target, especially after the value was increased for 2019. The president urged the village heads and officials to synergize development in rural areas with infrastructure development conducted by the central government.

"Next year, (the village budget) is approximately Rp72 trillion. The funds are greater, but the use must be right on target. This is not a matter of spending money, but being on target, effective, and useful," the president remarked while opening the National Work Meeting on Appropriate Technology XX and 2018 Village and Village Development Innovation Week in the Garuda Wisnu Kencana Region, Bali, Friday.

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In the past four years, the president remarked that the government had conducted massive infrastructure development, starting from toll roads, terminals, ports, airports, extension of runways and dams. However, infrastructure development by the central government has not been balanced in line with the development of public facilities and facilities in the countryside. Hence, the president has appealed to the village heads, village officials, and local governments to optimize development using the village budget.

"This must be connected with village funds, so that the big, medium, and small can be connected to everything. The toll road is complete, but the village road is passed," the president noted while addressing seven thousand village and kelurahan or neighborhood units across Indonesia.

The state budget for infrastructure development in 2018 reached at least Rp400 trillion; rising rapidly from the Rp150 trillion figure in 2014.

Along with the increase in infrastructure development spending, the budget for village funds has also increased since it was first launched in 2015 amounting to Rp20 trillion, to Rp60 trillion in 2018, and Rp73 trillion in 2019.

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