Mayor denies project mark-ups, lying to KPKPN

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang, Banten

Tangerang Mayor M. Thamrin dismissed on Tuesday reports that he was aware of mark-ups in the construction of the Tangerang municipal administration office complex, and that he had submitted a less then truthful asset declaration to the Public Servants' Wealth Audit Commission (KPKPN).

The mayor claimed that the reports were an attempt to remove him from office.

"I don't need to respond to such accusations as I've been aware of them for the last three months. I know who they are and where they have held meetings to plot to unseat me," Thamrin, who will end his five-year term in November this year, told the media at his office.

He was referring to a statement by the Tangerang Muslim Community Solidarity (SMIT) organization, which claims to have found irregularities in the construction of the administration office complex.

"The construction of the administration office complex has been marked-up as the project cost Rp 60 billion (US$6.6 million), much higher than the initially budgeted Rp 27 billion," SMIT chairman Eddy Sulaeman said on Tuesday.

He claimed that the allegation was not slander and that it was backed up with sufficient data.

Based on the construction material price standard issued by the Ministry of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure in 2000, one square meter of a government building should cost Rp 1,406,000.

"But, a supplemental work sheet issued by the municipal zoning agency in August 2002 states that each square meter of the 18,000-square-meter complex cost Rp 3.3 million," Sulaeman said.

But, Thamrin argued that the ministry's price standard of Rp 1,406,000 per square meter had been set in 2000.

"Just add up how much the price of construction materials has increased following the hikes in fuel prices over the past three years," the mayor said, while adding that the cost excluded expenditure on elevators, air conditioners, the building's foundations, electricity transformers, and illumination.

Thamrin, however, admitted that some of what SMIT said about his private wealth was true.

"But, some of the properties had been sold or transferred to my children before I submitted the reports to the KPKPN," he said.

Besides the alleged mark-ups, SMIT also revealed that the assets of Rp 3.2 billion reported by the mayor to the KPKPN were far below their actual total value of Rp 45 billion.

"We have requested that the KPKPN reexamine Mayor Thamrin's assets," Sulaeman said.

A copy of an audit report issued by the KPKPN on July 19, 2001, revealed that Mayor M. Thamrin's assets consisted of land and buildings located in 15 locations in Sumedang, West Java, and Tangerang, a 1990 Honda Accord sedan, a 1995 Peugeot sedan, a 1996 BMW sedan and a 1994 Mercedes Benz sedan, and jewelry and antiques, with a total value of Rp 3.2 billion.

After conducting an investigation, Sulaeman said, SMIT had found other assets that the mayor had not reported to the KPKPN.

They included two boarding houses on Jl. Ciumbuleuit Nos 129 and 141 in Bandung, West Java, worth Rp 6 billion and Rp 7 billion each; a three-story boarding house on Jl. Kolonel Syam No. 71 in Jatinangor, Sumedang, worth Rp 5 billion; a house on Jl. Utama Villa Melati Mas in Serpong, Tangerang, worth Rp 3 billion; a house on Jl. Taman Golf No. 14 in the Lippo Karawaci housing estate worth Rp 2.5 billion; rented rooms on Jl Kenaiban in Tangerang worth Rp 250 million; a house on Jl. Gatot Subroto in Tangerang, worth Rp 1 billion; two chain stores in Tigaraksa worth Rp 250 million; and a three-story shop on Jl. M. Toha in Pasar Baru, Tangerang, worth Rp 6 billion.