Bekasi told to punish delinquent developers

BEKASI (JP): Head of the West Java chapter of National Strategy Inspectorate M. Ismail has asked the Bekasi regency to take stern action against the regency's developers building projects not in line with specifications.

"Project officers and consultants should reprimand developers who violate project agreements, rather than just hide their mistakes," Ismail said in an evaluation meeting with the Bekasi branch of the Indonesian Developers Association and officials of Bekasi administration on Wednesday.

Ismail said that many of the regency's projects were constructed by developers haphazardly, as can be seen from their quality.

"There are a lot of projects which are already in bad condition, even though they were built only one year earlier. Moreover, many developers have filed misleading reports on the progress of their project's construction," he said.

The developers, for example, reported that they had completed the construction of a certain project. However, when the administration inspected the location, the construction was just reaching the 40 percent completion stage, he added.

Ismail said that among developers who have violated the project agreements, are CV Edison Putra Sulung, CV Mega Nusantara, CV Wahana Pembangunan and other companies owned by H. Achmad.

Ismail added that the total cost of projects handled by those developers reached Rp 1.58 billion (US$718,180).

He reiterated that the regency should not hesitate to take firmer action against those developers. "Just revoke their licenses and put them on trial because their actions cause the state to suffer losses," he added.

Earlier, Bekasi Regent Moch. Djamhari was angry at developers who handled the renovation of six elementary school buildings, including SD Pulau Puter and SD Karang Bahagia.

According to a spokesman for the regency, Yaya Rutyatnasih, the regent criticized the developers for the quality of the construction and for the usage of low standard materials in five of the six buildings.

Djamhari also threatened, as punishment, not to give other projects to the delinquent developers in the future.

The developers argued that the limited availability of funds to renovate the buildings forced them to use poor quality materials.

"We cannot meet the quality standard drawn by the project agreements because the project fund is calculated based on prices set last year, when the building materials were still cheaper," one of the developers told The Jakarta Post. (12/yns)