Contractors not happy over bidding

BEKASI, West Java (JP): Members of the local chapter of the Association of Indonesian Contractors, Gapensi, accused the regency of unfair bidding practices on 75 projects worth Rp 54 billion (about US$23 million).

"Only about 30 percent of 168 local contractors were invited to bid for government projects," the Association's head of the legal and tax department, Ujang Djunaedi, said Monday.

Ujang said the regency invited 54 contractors from the neighboring regency of Bogor, instead of opening bidding to local, registered contractors.

The projects open for bidding fell into 22 categories to build roads, bridges and government buildings.

Ujang charged officials of collusion with certain contractors.

But the regency's head of public relations, Atang Sudjana, said many local contractors had performed badly in the past. In some cases they had sold projects to other parties, and in others their work was below expected quality standards. (kod)