Toll supervisor testifies in court

Toll supervisor testifies in court

JAKARTA (JP): A construction supervisor of the Grogol
overpass, which collapsed in March killing three workers, denied
the defendant the defendant in trial resulting from the accident
had ordered him to remove the bracings supporting a section of
the construction.

"The defendant never ordered me to take off the bracings,"
Mansyur told the West Jakarta District Court.

Mansyur is one of three supervisors who must get their boss'
approval before making important changes to the overpass's
construction.

Mansyur has worked for four years for PT Hanbo Bumi Karsa, the
South Korean and Indonesian joint venture that built the
overpass. He said he had successfully supervised the building of
four similar overpasses in Jakarta.

The suspect is charged with negligence causing 30 meters of
the overpass to collapse. He faces a maximum five years in
prison.

The testimony came after the 35-year-old defendant asked
Mansyur whether he had ever been ordered to remove the important
bracings before the recommended period.

"Every worker knows that the bracings can not be removed until
three weeks after the concrete has dried," said Mansyur, who was
not at the scene when the accident took place, on the morning of
March 22, because he was sick.

He said the concrete was poured on March 19, four days before
the collapse.

Mansyur said the day before the accident the defendant ordered
him only to remove other parts of the construction, not the
bracings. "He asked me to put up the barrier and the wing pipes,
the upper parts of the overpass construction."

He said the upper parts of the overpass did not affect the
main supporting construction which holds up a section of the loop
ramp.

Other construction workers, who earlier testified, said it was
the first time they had seen bracings removed so quickly. They
said it usually took two to three weeks.

Presiding Judge M. Suleman adjourned the trial until next week
because he wants to have a look at the scene. (16)