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)