Printing firms appointed

Printing firms appointed

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta

The General Elections Commission (KPU) has awarded the tender to
print over 156 million ballot papers for the Sept. 20
presidential election runoff to the 14 firms that handled the job
for the July 5 polls.

The KPU said the companies, which are mostly located in
Jakarta, agreed on the printing price that had been set at Rp 48
per ballot by the commission.

The Jakarta-based firms are PT Persada Utama Tirta Lestari, PT
Kartika Naya, PT Temprint, PT Pentagraph, PT Gramedia, PT Induk
Sarana Kemasindo, state-owned Perum Peruri and Perum PNRI, and PT
Nusa Sastra. Three other firms are based in Surakarta, Central
Java: PT Macanan, PT Wangsa Jatra Lestari and PT Widya Duta,
while the other three -- PT Temprina Media Grafika, PT Dharma
Nugraha Indah -- are based in Surabaya.

The KPU member tasked with procuring the ballot papers, Hamid
Awaluddin, said the contract was restricted to printing companies
that operate at least four sheet printers, which are capable of
four-color printing.

Printing was scheduled to start immediately after the
Constitutional Court delivered its verdict over an election
complaint on Monday.

The court rejected the complaint filed by Golkar Party
presidential candidate Wiranto and his running mate Solahuddin
Wahid, citing a lack of material evidence.

Ballot distribution will start on Aug. 25, and the ballots are
expected to reach all regencies and municipalities by Sept. 5.

KPU consultant for the printing project Sentot M., said that
the price agreed upon by the firms and the commission would cover
the cost of the reproduction of templates, packaging and
distribution to the destination regions.

"The firms will make a handsome profit at that price," he
said.

He expected that the printing job would not take long, as each
firm would wrap up its work within days.

"According to my estimate, each firm will print 10 million
ballots. It is a small number for firms that operate four
printers," he said.

For the presidential election, ballots will be printed on
sheet machines rather than web machines. A web printer is fed a
roll of plain paper, while a sheet printer is fed sheets of
paper.

Sentot said each firm was capable of printing an average of
7,500 ballots per hour.

In a related development, the House of Representatives
Commission II for home affairs again turned down the KPU's
request for Rp 418 billion (US$45.9 million) in additional funds
for the runoff.

After the House's refusal, the KPU trimmed down the request to
Rp 154.3 billion.

"The KPU is still asking for too much," House budgetary
committee chairman Abdullah Zaini said.