The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) urged local governments in Bengkulu Province to regulate 4,072 uncertified lands, which account for 52 percent of 7,890 lands owned by the governments.
KPK Regional Coordinator for Prevention Coordination and Supervision, Pulung Rinadoro, said during the monitoring and evaluation meeting on Nov. 11-15 in Bengkulu that 346 lands out of 537 pieces of lands owned by the provincial government remained uncertified. Five of the lands—a golf course, Bengkulu University’s Medical Faculty, Bentiring Plant Nursery, Modern Juvenile Penitentiary, and Panjang Beach—are in dispute.
As for Bengkulu City Government, 240 out of 400 of their lands are uncertified. Five of the lands have problematic status: Mega Mall, Sunday Market, Pagar Dewa Market, SDN 62 elementary school, and Panjang Beach.
The dispute over Panjang Beach between the provincial and city governments has been going on for several years. The beach is registered as provincial government’s but is managed by the city government.
Pulung said KPK was expected to be the mediator between the mayor, the governor and the National Land Agency (BPN) Regional Office.
“Bengkulu City Government is currently obtaining the right to utilize the land from the BPN,” he said.
In terms of revenue optimization, the city government has a Rp69.2 billion revenue increase. Within the period of January-September 2019, the government earned Rp87.6 billion, up from Rp18.3 billion in the same period in 2018. The lion’s share of the income came from property transfer fee or BPHTB (Rp15.8 billion) and restaurant tax worth Rp12.7 billion.
The city government runs a pilot project of installing tapping box to record tax income, in collaboration with state-owned Bank Bengkulu. In 2018, of the target of 100 tapping boxes, 98 percent was installed. In 2019, however, only 7 percent of the target of 200 tapping boxes was installed.
“The problem is many taxpayers aren’t willing to open their accounts in Bank Bengkulu as required. KPK hopes Bank Bengkulu can assist regency governments in installing the tapping box,” Pulung said.
