Termites cost city billions

JAKARTA (JP): Termites have turned out to be the city administration's number one underground enemy. They have eaten away about 50 percent of government buildings.

The alarm was sounded on Monday by M. Pasaribu, chief of the agency in charge of overseeing construction, maintenance and restoration of government buildings.

"The city government definitely need substantial funds to restore the buildings," he told reporters after discussing the matter with city councilors in charge of public works.

According to Pasaribu, the insects, which are often mistaken for white ants, target offices that were built in the 1970s which used sub-standard materials.

Some of the termite-infested buildings have been restored with better quality materials. But repair projects have turned out to be very expensive.

In the 1995/96 fiscal year, for example, his office allocated a total of over Rp 19 billion (US$8.64 million) for 15 restoration projects in the five mayoralties. Two projects in Central Jakarta are worth Rp 2.5 billion, three in North Jakarta Rp 2.5 billion, four in West Jakarta Rp 4.5 billion, four in East Jakarta Rp 4 billion and two in South Jakarta Rp 5.6 billion.

Pasaribu said that his office lacked professional designers for construction of government buildings and that the problem is worsened by the fact that contractors usually subcontract their projects, making the supervision even more difficult.

The agency has been trying to improve coordination with other related government offices to improve implementation of office buildings, he added. (32)