Public works office criticized by council

JAKARTA (JP): A member of the City Council criticized the city public works office yesterday for poorly supervising the construction of a number of roads and other projects.

Bandjar Marpaung, chairman of the City Council's Commission D, which handles development affairs, said that the supervision by the City Public Work office is getting lax. This, he added, can be seen in the quality of roads and other city projects which are unsatisfactory and far below standard.

"The quality of the roads and buildings are poor," he said, pointing to the substandard quality of the water duct project in Kemayoran Kali Baru in Central Jakarta.

He explained that the quality of the concrete structure is poor due to the low quality sand used. Moreover, the construction process was sloppily undertaken, thereby causing damage in the crossing of the duct.

Bandjar also said that similarities can be found on road projects. They were improperly done and now many road surfaces are not flat and are filled with many little holes.

"Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan and Jl. Gunung Sahari, for example, have just been repaired and are no better than before," Bandjar said.

As the developers of these projects are generally classified in a more expert category, Bandjar assumed that the shoddy workmanship was very likely a result of poor supervision.

"The supervision is lax, even though supervisors from the office visit the projects every day. Apparently they are not paying much attention to the quality of the projects," he said.

He suggested that the function of office laboratories be to test the land solidity of road projects and to test the thickness of the asphalt needed for the construction of the road.

"The laboratory tests are vital in guaranteeing quality roads," Bandjar said.

Flood

In order to combat floods in the upcoming rainy season, Bandjar urged developers to complete flood control projects on time to help the city normalize the function of rivers.

"The flood control office should also launch an operation against the piling up of garbage which could hinder water flow," he said.

Bandjar said that the people should actively carry out the governor's suggestion and prepare themselves by clearing up their own neighborhood areas and not littering indiscriminately in gutters and rivers.

"People also have to stop building houses on river banks. Living along the rivers endangers lives when the rivers flood," Bandjar said. (yns)