Ganjar Pranowo, a former lawmaker, Heru Sudjatmoko, former head of Purbalingga district, were installed governor and vice governor of the province for the following five years.
Change for the better was the gist of pledges given by all political contenders including Ganjar and Heru.
The Central Java people, however, cast their votes for Ganjar and Heru as they had greater confidence in the two to lead the province to greater prosperity. That was apparent when they showed great enthusiasm when the two leaders were installed.
Supporters held people's festivities in front of the governor's office in Semarang.
Ganjar Pranowo and Heru Sudjatmoko also presented themselves as anti corruption. Fighting and uprooting corruption is among the their commitments that won the people support.
Ganjar Pranowo pledges to boost development of various sectors with priority in infrastructure and to reduce or eradicate poverty in Central Java.
His first year in office would be focused on development of infrastructure sector.
Improvement of infrastructure would be the beginning of changes in all sectors. Better infrastructure including roads, bridges and other public facilities would pave the way for economic development, he said.
"We will focus on road repairs that would directly benefit the people in general," he said.
His commitment is reflected in the 2014 provincial budget that calls for greater attention to infrastructure development.
In 2014 Central Java has a spending budget of Rp13.9 trillion and Rp3.25 trillion of which would be for infrastructure development including for the repairs and construction of roads, bridges, irrigation systems and houses.
The biggest part of Rp2.04 trillion of the infrastructure fund were for urban and rural financial assistance.
Fund for road and bridge repairs and construction rose to Rp982.5 billion from Rp601.6 billion set aside in 2013.
Increase in the funds for infrastructure development was at the expense of a sharp cut in funds for other purposes such as social aid and grants.
Grants were cut from Rp3.9 trillion to Rp3.04 trillion and the recipients of grants, which range from Rp500 million to Rp1 billion each are tightly selected.
Recipients of grant of Rp 1 billion would be verified directly by the governor.
Fund for social aid is set at Rp31.6 billion mostly for renovation of old and dilapidated houses or a sharp increase from only Rp3.4 billion in 2013.
The increase in fund set aside for infrastructure social aid is the start of a concrete step taken toward improving the people's living quality.
Based on data in 2008, Central Java had 1,989,804 units of houses not fit for human dwelling or the fourth largest in the country.
Under the previous five year administration of Governor Bibit Waluyo , 2008-2013, only 5,538 units of old and damaged houses were repaired .
The new governor plans to repair 3,150 units of dilapidated houses in a year each with a fund aid of Rp7 million.
Ganjar said the 2014 budget had been prepared based on development plan in 2013 that his administration could not yet made much change.
But he said the provincial administration and the regional legislative body (DPRD) agreed to tighten selection and verification of grants and social aid funds .
"Police, the prosecution office and Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) also took note of this. Therefore, if it is not properly handled I would not sign it," he said.
He said he had also made change in the process of communications with the people such as through the mass media to be closer to the people.
Through social media especially twitter, many people have complained about the condition in their areas, he said.
Such communications would help him to know the aspirations of the people and to be able to act as much as possible on the aspirations, he said.
"Many reported about roads being badly damaged that need immediate handling," he said.
He said he would ask support from all concerned to boost Central Java development to close the gap and catch up with other major provinces such as East Java and West Java.
"We will hand over the big mission to the people that they would take part in the carrying out the job," he said.
However, some observers said there was nothing special in "infrastructure year" as called by Ganjar, as the fund allocated for infrastructure development is only Rp580 billion larger than Rp2.71 trillion set aside by his predecessor Bibit Waluyo in 2013.
"There is an increase in the budget for infrastructure, but the increase is normal from year to year," deputy chairman of the Commission D of the DPRD Sasmito said.
Sasmito said if the governor wants the year 2014 as a year of infrastructure , the fund allocation should be much larger for infrastructure projects.
The budget for infrastructure in the following year could be reduced as most of the fund would be needed only for maintenance, he said.
