Stop collusion in awarding projects, councilors say

Stop collusion in awarding projects, councilors say

JAKARTA (JP): Councilors and a contractor urged the city
administration Saturday to stop the rampant collusion,
corruption, cronyism and nepotism in the awarding of its
development projects.

They argued that the time had come for the administration to
promote clean governance in line with the growing spirit of
political and economic reforms.

Amarullah Asbah, head of the City Council's Commission C for
financial affairs, said the administration had for years been
notorious for red-tape that spurred a high-cost economy.

"It's public knowledge that many projects are awarded without
fair bidding," he said. "People wanting to participate in a bid
have to deal with countless (people at) desks to succeed."

The administration should move fast to end the corrupt
practices to improve its image, said Amarullah from the Golkar
faction.

Lukman F. Mokoginta, head of the Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI) faction, said many projects were awarded to certain
companies by way of engineered bidding.

"Projects are awarded through collusion, cronyism and nepotism
involving officials," he said.

Such practices are rampant not only in the city
administration, but also at other government institutions, said
the member of Commission D for development affairs.

Lukman said the engineering of bids involved officials from
the highest to lowest levels.

"The project manager, head and members of the bidding
committee, head of the office or even the typist could be
involved in collusion," he said.

He said contractors could obtain information about proposed
projects long before they were tendered.

"A project plan should be kept confidential until it is
offered for bid. But some contractors get drafts from corrupt
officials even before the administration reveals its yearly
budget in April," he said.

A contractor who spoke on condition of anonymity told The
Jakarta Post that it was easy for someone to get a project at the
administration if they had a friend or relative within the
bureaucracy.

"It is common for officials, like the project manager or head
of a department, to disclose a project planned for the next
fiscal year to contractors they know well.

"It is common for contractors who have become part of the
inner circle to be awarded a project well before it is made
public. In this case bidding is a mere formality," said the
source, who admitted that he had been granted several projects
through such a process.

The formal bidding is attended by 11 bidders who already know
who will be awarded the project. The one who is awarded the
contract then cooperates with the 10 who lost out.

"We call them bidding associates. They'll lend you their
documents to be used in the contrived bid. It is customary to pay
dues of between 2 percent and 5 percent of the project value to
be shared by the 10 companies.

"Remember that as a picked contractor, you have to pay 'thank
you' fees to the officials. Usually we allocate 20 percent of the
project value for them," he said.

He said bidding associates, who usually gather in a particular
corner in the administration complex every day, were long-time
partners of city bureaucrats.

"They (bidding associates) know full-well that they will
always get lots of money as long as there are corrupt officials."

Amarullah said the corrupt practices had badly tarnished the
city administration's image.

"The administration must get rid of these bidding associates,"
he noted.

According to Lukman, the council has tried to put a stop the
collusion and corruption for years but the call has fallen on
deaf bureaucrats' ears. (cst)