Allegations of marking up in post-flood repair projects

Ahmad Junaedi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The huge funds provided by the city administration for flood rehabilitation projects appear open to misuse, as several city agencies have allegedly marked up their postflood expenditure.

City Middle and Higher Education Agency standardization division head Sapari revealed on Wednesday that it planned to renovate 132 senior high school buildings damaged by the recent floods, instead of 152 buildings as reported.

"We have more than 2,000 students in the 152 school buildings, but only 132 buildings were damaged by the floods," Sapari said.

According to the agency's proposal, it planned to repair 152 school buildings. The proposal was approved by city Governor Sutiyoso and the agency has received Rp 3.2 billion (US$320,000).

The Rp 3.2 billion was part of the Rp 251 billion announced by Sutiyoso on Tuesday for flood rehabilitation projects.

The agency's proposal stated that all 152 schools suffered damage to their floors, doors, tables, chairs, drawers and computers.

The damage, especially to the computers, raised questions on whether they were all really as badly damaged as stated in the proposal.

Agency head Sukesti Martono admitted on Wednesday that not all computers were damaged by the floods as many of them had been moved to the second floors of the school buildings.

Asked about public complaints that he had not inspected the schools during the floods, Sukesti replied, "I didn't have enough time. So many schools were damaged by the floods."

Meanwhile, vice principal of SMU 8 Bukit Duri, South Jakarta, complained that the school had yet to receive support from the city administration following the recent floods, which had ruined some of the school building.

"We have spent more than Rp 100 million from the school's own coffers to clean up the mess and fix some of the main school fixtures, including the electrical system," Abdurahman Ibrahim told The Jakarta Post.

Ibrahim revealed that due to the floods, the school had suffered an estimated Rp 300 million-worth of damage.

Ibrahim said the school planned to repaint the building during the school holiday, which was scheduled to begin in the middle of March.

Ibrahim called on the city administration to disburse the funds meant for short-term renovation works.

"If they are not disbursed, we will use our own money. We can't wait any longer as the extremely bad state of the classrooms could threaten students' health, which, in turn, would disrupt their education," he said.

A reliable source said that the school had sent a letter to the governor to complain about the slow response of the agency.

The school was forced to rent a school building on Jl. Tebet Barat to accommodate its third-year students, due to face their final examination.

The school, which is considered among the best state schools in the city, together with students' parents, paid the rental fee of Rp 12.5 million without any help from the agency.

Besides that agency, the City Sanitation Agency has also allegedly marked up its postflood expenditure.

According to records, the agency hired only 57 private garbage trucks to dispose of trash after the floods but the agency's deputy head Rama Budi said on Tuesday that it had hired 83.

"I will check with my subordinates. I will punish them if there is any corruption in this matter," Rama said on Wednesday.

He said earlier that the agency had spent Rp 1 billion in renting 83 trucks, seven skip loaders and eight excavators from private contractors.