Govt to assign new firms to repair Java, Sumatra roads
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government will appoint several new contractors, without a tender procedure, to repair roads on Java's northern coast and Sumatra's eastern coast until November, a Cabinet minister said on Monday.
Minister for Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure Soenarno said that the appointment was necessary as the existing contractors -- PT Yala Persada Internasional and PT Sinar Ciomas Putra Utama -- had failed to complete the repair work.
"We will assign new companies that have obtained an International Standard Organization (ISO) certificate to repair the damage and improve the road quality.
"We will not carry out a tender as we have no time to do it," Soenarno told reporters prior to a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR) Commission IV on Infrastructure and Transportation.
However, he didn't elaborate on whether or not the government would take legal action against the existing companies which had failed to complete the repairs.
The Java northern coast and Sumatra eastern coast roads are two of the busiest routes in the country.
Transportation activities on the routes will sharply increase ahead of the Muslim Idul Fitri celebrations -- which this year will fall in early December.
The two highways in question have fallen into disrepair in several areas, thus slowing down transportation activities on the main arteries.
As of August 2002, for example, the 321-kilometer stretch between Bekasi and Cirebon in West Java had 165 kilometers with varying degrees of damage.
As of March, the roads on the eastern coast of Sumatra, stretching 2,300 kilometers, had 408 kilometers with some damage and 173 kilometers deemed heavily damaged.
Legislators blamed the contractors for not meeting the quality standards which were promised in the original contracts during the construction of the roads, in addition to collusion between truck drivers -- with overweight loads -- and highway patrol authorities who allowed them to be overweight for the road damage.
However, they believed that the latter was the main cause of the road damage.
Soenarno said earlier that the government was seeking an additional Rp 2.3 trillion (US$260 million) for the road repairs.
Soenarno also said that the government was considering replacing asphalt roads in certain areas with concrete roads, which are considered to be more durable.
Indonesia already has in force Law No.13/1980 on road affairs which provides clear regulations on the quality, thickness and specifications of roads.
Soenarto was quoted by Kompas as saying over the weekend that the government would take over the responsibility to repair the damaged road from the existing firms, although the latter might retaliate by taking legal action against the government.
For the long term, he said, the government planned to develop a four-lane highway between Jakarta and Semarang in Central Java to meet the increasing traffic demands.
The plan would be carried out in 2006 as the government did not currently have enough money to finance the program, he added.