Four W Sumatra Regions Received Village Funds

Padang, (Antaranews Sumbar) - Four districts in West Sumatra have received 2018 phase I village funds which are amounting to 20 percent of the total budget allocations for each region. Head of West Sumatra Village and Community Empowerment Office, Syafrizal in Padang on Wednesday, detailed the four districts are Padang Pariaman, Agam, South Pesisir and West Pasaman respectively. "Padang Pariaman received Rp16.3 billion, Agam Rp12.7 billion, South Pesisir Rp29.1 billion and West Pasaman Rp7.1 billion," he pointed out. The funds according to him have entered into the account of each region and can be used as soon as possible. Meanwhile, eight districts and two grant recipients in West Sumatra have not been able to get budget allocations because they have not completed the requirements yet. "We push other regions to immediately complete the requirement," he said. The mechanism for disbursement of village funds in 2018 differs from 2017, based on Minister of Finance Regulation (PMK) 225/PMK.07/2017 on the Second Amendment to Regulation of Minister of Finance Numb.50/PMK.07/2017 on Management of Transfers to Regional and Village Funds. The disbursement of village fund in 2018 is done with three stages of new scheme, namely phase I as much as 20 percent, second stage 40 percent, and third stage 40 percent. This is different from 2017 disbursement which is only two stages. The number of West Sumatra village fund recipients in 2018 increased from initially 885 villages or nagari (traditional villages) to 928 due to the completion of unfoldment process. At the beginning of village funds implementation in 2015, the number of recipients are 880 villages. This amount is very small compared to other regions that have the same area as Aceh. Aceh has 6,474 villages which receive village funds so that the amount of funds received reaches Rp3.8 trillion. While West Sumatra only received about Rp765.5 billion. It encourages the local government to expand the village as well as to structure government services at village level. (cha)