Scrutiny grows over spending and changes at East Flores Wolo Kolo cattle project

Larantuka — — East Flores’ flagship cattle programme at Wolo Kolo, Lamatutu village in Tanjung Bunga district is facing growing scrutiny after local media reported that more than Rp2 billion has been spent and the planned central facility is now being treated as a sub-centre. The reported spending and design changes sit within the regency’s wider “Big Push” cattle initiative, but available public information does not yet provide a full, audited breakdown of costs or a formal corruption case.

The programme is part of the current administration’s economic “Big Push” strategy, introduced under Regent Antonius Doni Dihen, who has led Flores Timur since 2025 according to official biographies. The regional information service describes the cattle project as a pilot effort to develop livestock production in Tanjung Bunga as one of several priority sectors under the Big Push policy.

FloresPos.net reported on 15 September that a cattle facility in East Flores had already absorbed more than Rp2 billion and was being redesigned from a central cattle centre into a sub-centre. The report linked the project to the regency’s Big Push cattle programme and noted that questions were being raised over spending and programme changes.

Other coverage from regional outlet Pikiran Rakyat’s Flores Timur edition places the Wolo Kolo project inside a much larger budget envelope. In January 2026, the regency government publicly stated that Rp7.22 billion from regional funds had been allocated for the procurement of 700 cattle and supporting facilities, as part of a total Rp12 billion livestock and poultry package, according to that report.

Subsequent articles by the same outlet and allied organisations have cited programme costs in the range of Rp5.83–7.7 billion for cattle procurement and infrastructure, reflecting different stages of planning and contract adjustments.

Identified spending and physical works

FloresPos.net’s description of the East Flores cattle centre includes two main spending items at Wolo Kolo near the end of the 2025 budget year: a lease of 200 hectares of land in Lamatutu village at Rp200 million per year, and a site-preparation contract valued at Rp1.002 billion. Together, these two components amount to Rp1.202 billion in identified commitments.

Separate reporting by Pikiran Rakyat’s Flores Timur bureau describes the same Wolo Kolo site as a leased 200-hectare area where only around 30 hectares had been actively prepared at the time of a September 2026 field visit. That coverage notes that work on farm access roads, power infrastructure and forage planting was still at an early stage, with the cattle centre far from completion.

An additional article from the same outlet on 15 September quotes a local academic consultant as saying that around Rp1.2 billion had been spent specifically on feed-related needs for the Wolo Kolo cattle operations, although the source stresses that the figure is approximate and that detailed documentation was still being reviewed.

Design changes and contract adjustments

While FloresPos.net refers to a redesign from a central cattle facility to a sub-centre, other local reports focus on changes to the volume and distribution of cattle rather than the label of the facility. Pikiran Rakyat’s Flores Timur coverage and commentary by local civic groups describe a contract signed in late June 2026 to supply 700 cattle under the programme, followed by an adendum at the end of August that reduced the number of animals to 150.

Under the revised scheme reported by these outlets, 50 cattle would be placed at the Wolo Kolo site in Lamatutu and another 100 distributed among farmer groups in the regency. Critics quoted in these reports question the legal and financial implications of reducing the volume of livestock under an existing contract while keeping the broader programme budget largely intact.

Local political actors and legal practitioners have publicly raised concerns that the combination of large budget allocations, partial physical works and changes in programme design could carry legal risks if procurement rules or contractual obligations were breached. However, these commentaries stop short of asserting that a crime has been proven.

Oversight and unanswered questions

As of mid-September 2026, publicly accessible reporting does not show that prosecutors, police or Indonesia’s anti-corruption commission have opened a formal case specifically targeting the Wolo Kolo cattle centre or the broader Big Push cattle programme.

Key details remain unclear in open sources, including the complete set of contract documents for land lease, site preparation and feed, the precise disbursement of the multi-billion-rupiah cattle budget across procurement and infrastructure, the formal basis for redesigning programme targets, and how much of the prepared Wolo Kolo site is currently in use.

Local media and civic groups continue to call for comprehensive audits and transparency over the programme, arguing that detailed official disclosures are necessary before firm conclusions can be drawn about the efficiency or legality of spending at East Flores’ Wolo Kolo cattle centre.

Sources

• FloresPos.net
• Diskominfo Flores Timur (Government information service)
• Detik Bali/Nusra
• Pikiran Rakyat Flores Timur (flotim.pikiran-rakyat.com)
• Wikipedia Indonesia