Termites cost city billions

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)