Cipondoh swamp left untapped
TANGERANG: A project to develop Situ Rawa Cipondoh lake in a swamp area into a recreational site has been abandoned for the last two years, an official said on Saturday.
Tangerang administration spokesman Saeful Rachman said the project was started by developer PT Griya Eka Paksi when Tangerang was still part of West Java province.
The municipality was made a part of Banten province in 2002.
"But as of today, it is unclear what the developer has been doing. We have summoned the developer several times to clarify this, but none of the company's representatives have come to the administration office," Saeful told The Jakarta Post.
He added that Mayor Wahidin Halim had decided not to give any permits to developers to make any changes to the swamp until PT Griya Eka Paksi restored it to its original function as a catchment area.
The neglected project had separated the 26-hectare lake into two parts.
Currently, the lake, which is located right opposite the office of Cipondoh administration on Jl. KH Hasyim Ashari, is a popular fishing spot for locals. -- JP
;JP;MLT; ANPAj..r.. Focus-projects-capital Govt wants reliable contractors JP/8/Great
Govt wants reliable contractors
TANGERANG: Starting this year, the Tangerang regency office will require contractors who bid for development projects to have a bank balance amounting to at least 10 percent of the value of the project.
"With such a requirement, the contractors can no longer play hide and seek with us," Regent Ismet Iskandar told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
That way, Ismet said, the administration can minimize additional expenditure for public facilities, which is financed by taxpayers.
"We had had numerous experiences with bad contractors who reduced the value of the project by 60 percent," he said, adding that several contractors had even neglected to complete the project and still taken their payment.
Deputy chairman of Tangerang chapter of the Indonesian Construction Companies Association (Gapeksindo), Khaerudin, said that such a requirement should only be enforced for medium to large companies.
He also demanded that the administration expedite the issuance of construction permits "because the slow bureaucracy had hampered the implementation, raising the cost of the project". -- JP