City Council rejects barter for Monas lighting project

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta

The City Council has rejected the city administration's plan to have private companies pay for lighting at the National Monument (Monas) Park in Central Jakarta in exchange for free billboard space.

Councillor Ahmad Heryawan of the Justice Party (PK) faction said on Tuesday that similar deals in the past were not transparent and marred by corruption and collusion.

"There should be no more deals (made by the administration) to barter locations for outdoor advertising with other projects.... All tax revenue from the billboards must go to the city's coffers," he said.

Heryawan represented his faction in the general overview at the City Council on the draft of the bylaw on advertising.

The Golkar faction, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction, the United Development Party (PPP) faction and the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction also opposed such deals.

The administration continues to pursue such deals despite mounting criticism from the public.

The city has offered several sites for outdoor advertising to PT Indofood Sukses Makmur in exchange for the funding of a spectacular lighting system at Monas, as part of the celebration of the Jakarta anniversary celebrations on June 22.

The Jakarta Post observed that construction work for the lighting near the Monas tower had already begun. Administration officials are still tightlipped on the value of the project.

"We are still calculating the project value before we decide the compensation in billboard space for the company," said assistant to the city secretary for development affairs, IGKG Suena.

Such beautification projects -- including the Rp 14 billion (US$1.5 million) renovation of the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle water fountain, the Rp 4 billion Arjuna Wijaya statue renovation project and the Rp 3.5 billion General Sudirman statue -- had earlier sparked strong criticism due to closed tenders and exchange deals.