Irregularities found in WB-funded projects
JAKARTA (JP): A joint investigation by the World Bank and the Ministry of Education and Culture has found deficiencies and irregularities in the construction of a number of World Bank- financed schools, an official said here on Friday.
The "irregularities" were found in junior high school buildings recently completed in East Java and West Sumatra.
World Bank Country Director for Indonesia Dennis de Tray said the discovery was made during a regular World Bank supervisory inspection, the results of which were later confirmed by a local engineer invited by the Bank's supervision team.
"It is unfortunate that at the very time Indonesia needs to make sure all children are provided with school places, we are presented with a situation that requires the closure of new schools because they were poorly constructed," de Tray said.
Separately, Basilius Bengoteku, the World Bank's education officer, said the supervisory inspection in August found that out of 41 schools built in East Java with World Bank funds in the 1997/1988 financial year, 18 were found to be either incomplete or substandard.
"Out of the 18 buildings, four were declared unsafe," he told The Jakarta Post.
According to a joint press statement released by the bank and the ministry, local officials signed off the construction as complete and one-hundred percent satisfactory.
In West Sumatra, the Ministry of Education and Culture found some contractors had handled funds incorrectly and that some schools had not been completed to the specifications of the contracts.
"We are very concerned because the schools were built from a World Bank loan and the state budget to provide education facilities in rural and remote areas," Basilius said.
"One of the schools in East Java, for instance, does not have a satisfactory drainage system. If it rains, a landslide could occur," he added.
He said that last year the World Bank financed construction of 182 junior high school buildings in the provinces of East Java, Central Java, East Nusa Tenggara, Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, Aceh, Jambi, Lampung, West Sumatra and South Sumatra.
He said similar malfeasance might also have occurred in connection with schools built in the other provinces.
The ministry and the World Bank have launched immediate inspections and engineering analysis to check the quality of buildings in the other provinces.
Each school building is worth Rp 300 million to Rp 400 million, Basilius said.
"One way or the other the buildings must be repaired. The students will be temporarily moved to neighboring schools while the repair work is being done," he said.
"We can't afford to put the children in danger, but their studies must not be interrupted," Basilius added.
"The projects were being run by the provincial administration, so they must be responsible for this too," he said.
Director General of Primary and Secondary Education Indra Djati Sidi has warned all provincial authorities that construction contracts must be awarded transparently and completed according to acceptable specifications.
"We are determined to ensure that the schools are repaired quickly and we will also improve our management system, including the way construction of new school buildings is supervised," Indra said in a statement. (edt)