Contractors rail against collusion

Contractors rail against collusion

JAKARTA (JP): About 80 representatives of contractors grouped
in the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Builders Association
staged a peaceful demonstration at City Hall yesterday to protest
alleged collusion between the governor's office and the
association's executives.

One of the protesters, Beresman Siagian, said they wanted the
revocation of Gubernatorial Decree No. 367, issued in 1994, which
required all contractors to become members of the association and
pay membership fees before participating in tenders of city
projects.

It was proof of collusion, he said.

"We paid a lot of money as members to the association, but
still many of the projects were awarded only to the association's
executives."

He said the contractors were required to pay a yearly
membership fee of between Rp 500,000 and Rp 4 million for each
company they had.

Many contractors had more than three different companies to
enable them to participate in tenders on various projects, said
Siagian. (cst)