Council building's roof collapses

TANGERANG (JP): The roof of the main hall in the Tangerang Regency Council building on Jl. Ki Samaun collapsed yesterday as a result of old age and poor maintenance, an employee said.

No fatalities were reported and no office equipment was damaged in the incident, Marno, 40, a member of the council's secretariat, said.

"We moved all office equipment and other appliances out of the hall this morning. The poor condition of the roof was noticed several months ago," he said.

"The roof fell down at 11 a.m., when the weather was clear," he said, adding that only council members and a handful of visitors were shocked by the collapse.

H. Muchson, the council's speaker, said that meetings would be temporarily moved to other rooms on the first floor of the building as a result of the incident.

The broken roof will be repaired soon, he said.

The roof had already been repaired twice since 1995, but the work undertaken had been of questionable quality, he added.

The Tangerang regency plans to move the council offices to Tigaraksa, the regency's new capital, but it is not clear when the new buildings will be completed. (41/hhr)