TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo was preparing a budget of Rp1.4 trillion to combat the coronavirus spread in his region. He had earlier set the emergency response status of the virus disease or Covid-19 outbreak in Central Java.

According to Ganjar, the budget will be approved by the Central Java Legislative Council (DPRD) this week. "We need a minimum of Rp1.4 trillion, and it is a must," he said on Sunday night, March 29.

Ganjar elaborated that the budget will be used to overcome the economic and social impacts due to the pandemic, for example, by providing the basic needs for underprivileged communities.

At least, some 1.8 million residents of Central Java were not categorized as poor families so they could not obtain direct cash assistance or BLT and were not registered in Family Hope Program (PKH), Indonesia Health Card (KIS), and vulnerable groups, Ganjar added.

He went on to say that the budget will be added from every district and city in the province and that each region could adjust their regional budget to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic or use the special allocation fund budget.

“Districts and cities have a pretty huge budget,” said the PDIP politician.

Ganjar said the budget from the public and private parties could be optimized as well. Other sources of the budget could be from the village funds, he added.

Ganjar Pranowo said he will submit the budget scheme for the coronavirus handling to the Central Java DPRD this week, hoping the process will run quickly. "So we can get back to work as usual," he concluded.

JAMAL A NASHR