The budget allocation for the main armament systems was one of the topics discussed at a limited cabinet meeting led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono here on Monday, Purnomo said.
"This is a national program which is directly coordinated by the President," he said.
The limited meeting was the fourth of its kind to discuss a wide range of issues related to main armament systems.
Purnomo said the meeting also discussed the final draft list of armaments which became the government`s priority to buy or produce them soon.
Among the armaments that were high on the list of the government`s priorities were submarines and patrol ships for the Navy, assault and combat helicopters and transport helicopters for the Army, he said.
The government would also determine funding sources to finance the maintenance and purchase of main armament systems, he said adding the funding sources could be the state budget, domestic loans or foreign loans.
He said the government also had set up a high-level committee to manage and supervise the procurement and strengthening of the main armament systems.
"The high-level committee is led by Deputy Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin while its members come from the Defense Ministry, the Finance Ministry, Bappenas (National Development Planning Agency), BPKP (Finance and Development Comptroller), LKPP (Government Procurement Regulatory Body) and several internal auditing units at relevant ministries," he said.
National Development Planning Minister Armida Alisjahbana who is also Bappenas chief said the government had decided to allocate Rp99 trillion for main armament systems under the medium-term national development plan of 2010-2014.
The budget fund consisted of Rp32.5 trillion for the maintenance of main armament systems and Rp66.5 trillion for capital expenditure, she said.
(SYS/S012/A014)
Editor: Suryanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
