Overpass collapse must be a lesson: Soeharto<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto said yesterday all parties
\nmust learn from the collapse of the Grogol overpass which killed
\nthree workers and injured 18 others on Friday.<\/p>\n
\"Face the problem appropriately to avoid further negligence,\"
\nSoeharto said, as quoted by Minister of Public Works Radinal
\nMoochtar.<\/p>\n
Radinal met with the President yesterday to report on, among
\nother things, the accident at an entrance to the Grogol-Pluit
\ntoll road.<\/p>\n
\"If proved guilty of violating work procedures the contractor
\nwill surely face legal sanctions,\" Radinal said, adding that the
\nMinistry expects its investigation team to come up with results
\nin 10 days.<\/p>\n
The contractors of the overpass, technically called the Grogol
\nloop ramp project, are the South Korean Hanbo General Contractor
\nand the Indonesian PT Bumi Karsa.<\/p>\n
The consultants for the project include Japan-based PCI & Yec
\nand the Indonesian PT Bandung Industrial Engineering Consultant
\n(BIEC).<\/p>\n
A source questioned the involvement of the consultants, PT
\nBIEC and another company, PT INDEC, whose managements are known
\nto have close ties to the ministry of public works.<\/p>\n
The ministry's secretary general, Ruslan Diwiryo, said Monday
\nthat all the contractors, consultants and supervisors (from the
\nPublic Works Ministry) should be properly informed of all
\n\"strategic procedures\" of the construction process.<\/p>\n
But removal of bracing may be a routine detail which is not
\nusually covered, he said.<\/p>\n
Yesterday the Ministry of Manpower also formed an
\ninvestigation team on the accident.<\/p>\n
Suwarto, the Director General of Industrial Relations and
\nLabor Standards said that based on labor laws, the team will
\ncheck preventative safety measures for workers and whether all
\nemployees are covered by social security insurance.<\/p>\n
At the site workers had told reporters they had not been given
\nany safety equipment.<\/p>\n
In a related development, a noted construction consultant,
\nWiratman Wangsadinata, said the stagers' poor condition remains
\nthe likeliest cause of the accident.<\/p>\n
\"Apparently none of the parties involved (in the project) were
\naware of the stagers' condition,\" he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Like Ruslan, Wiratman said this is a routine step which may
\nhave not been reported to all parties in the project.<\/p>\n
\"What probably happened was that all parties assumed the
\nothers had checked the stagers, or the feeling might have
\nprevailed that checking was not needed given the high reputation
\nof the parties involved,\" Wiratman said.<\/p>\n
However, he said, the loop ramp was not a routine project.<\/p>\n
\"We do not have many loop ramps of 500 tons,\" he said.<\/p>\n
On Monday Ruslan ruled out the possibility of technical faults
\nin the stagers, as he said the project owner and the consultant
\nwould have checked the structures.<\/p>\n
Ruslan said the selection of the contractor itself was based
\non a strong recommendation from the Japan-based Overseas Economic
\nCooperation Fund (OECF), which provided the loans for the
\nproject.<\/p>\n
Wiratman said that although the government assumes that the
\nOECF conducts strict selection, it should further screen the
\ncompanies.<\/p>\n
To avoid accidents, public projects should be required to
\nemploy an independent professional quality controller, as is the
\nrule in Singapore, Wiratman said.<\/p>\n
Also, checks and rechecks within internal mechanisms should
\nbecome standard procedure for consultants, he believed.<\/p>\n
\"The fact is that although the court will try and convict the
\nparties found responsible, settlements (in other countries) have
\nnever been satisfactory to any party,\" Wiratman said. (anr)<\/p>",
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