Jakarta's Gapensi wants jobs on Manggarai project

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Builders' Association (Gapensi) wants to be involved in the planned Manggarai Integrated Terminal project.

Daniel Hutapea, the chapter's head, said yesterday his office had sent a letter to the consortium's leader, PT Citra Marga Nusapala Persadha, asking them to involve Gapensi members in the project.

The government plans to build an integrated transport terminal in Manggarai, South Jakarta. The 124-hectare terminal will be surrounded by a commercial center and apartment buildings. The existing bus terminal will be transformed into a four-story station with 22 train tracks, four underground express trains, intercity and city buses, minibuses and taxis. The project is expected to cost at least US$285 million. No one is sure when the project will start.

Daniel said, at a meeting between the association and the City's Public Works Agency yesterday, that builders and contractors should learn to cooperate before free trade begins in 2003.

Deputy Governor for Administrative Affairs Idroes and the head of the City's Public Works Agency Suharto attended the meeting with at least 200 Gapensi members, Antara reported.

"Cooperation between contractors and builders will improve the quality of their skills," he said.

Daniel said tenders for big projects should be publicly announced, in accordance with Article 121 of a Presidential Decree which says biddings for state projects must be announced through the mass media.

"Information on the projects must include the nature of the works, the cost, when the bidding opens and when the project will start," he said.

"There are times when tender committees publicly announce small projects, but hide information on bigger projects because they plan to award the projects to certain bidders."

Daniel criticized the tender process for projects of the City's Land Transportation Agency and Electricity Company.

"Their announcements do not give detailed information about the projects," he said.

Separately, the head of the City's Public Works Agency, Suharto, said that the city's 2,300 construction firms could cooperate through mergers or joint ventures.

"They should not expect to work on state projects only. The cost of the City Administration's projects is only about five percent of the total investment in development projects. The contractors must compete for privately-owned projects," he said. He did not give a total investment figure. (sur)