Nias Recovery News

BRR weeds out graft, terminates contracts

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Thu, 10/19/2006 10:38 AM

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

The Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) has reported two contractors to the police and terminated the contracts of five others over graft allegations.

The agency's representative office on Nias Island reported PT Citra Ria Mumi and PT Sarana Fiberindo Marina to the police over allegations they embezzled project funds. The cases are now being investigated by the North Sumatra Police.

Citra Ria Mumi was given a contract to construct 35 houses in Lahewa district, Nias regency, while Sarana Fiberindo Marina won a contract to provide 300 fishing boats. The total value of their contracts was Rp 5.7 billion.

The BRR office in Nias also terminated the contracts of PT Uli Artha, CV Harapan Insan, CV Faisal Kontraktor, PT Wimcom Karya Utama and PT Bintang Agung. The five companies have been blacklisted and will not be eligible to receive any future contracts from the agency.

William P. Sabandar, the agency's head in Nias, said the steps were taken to ensure all BRR projects met expected quality standards.

""The BRR has declared this year 'quality year', so we will not tolerate poor quality work, especially when there are indications of corruption, collusion and nepotism,"" William said following an agency workshop in Medan on Wednesday.

Apart from the seven contractors, the agency has also terminated two managers, an assistant manager and three staff members, and replaced the heads of three working units in the Nias office.

William said the agency also planned to prosecute three staff members allegedly involved in legal violations.

Responding to problems within the body since the 2004 tsunami in Aceh and Nias, and the massive earthquake on Nias last year, he said the agency would introduce a people's empowerment program through which all housing construction projects in Nias and South Nias regencies would be overseen by residents.

""Starting next year, all projects related to housing construction will be directly taken care of by residents. This change is being made in response to widespread corruption, collusion and nepotism within the agency and contractors,"" William told The Jakarta Post.

Dozens of people from the Student and Youth Forum on Nias Development staged a protest outside the Medan venue where the workshop was being held, demanding the government launch an investigation into the alleged corruption inside the BRR's Nias office.

Forum secretary Kurniawan Harefa said many tsunami and quake victims in Nias continued to live in miserable conditions because reconstruction work was progressing slowly and money intended to build houses was being embezzled.

""Many of the BRR's reconstruction projects in Nias have been disappointing, with the quality of the construction far below the amount of money budgeted for the work,"" he said.
William said the agency was not closing its eyes to the allegations and would investigate all claims.

Asian Development Bank spokesman Pieter Smith said the bank had allocated US$30 million to help rebuild Nias.

He said the bank also planned to rebuild villages in Nias with $15 million set aside for the work. ""The program is in the planning phase and will start next year,"" he said.

posted by BRR Perwakilan Nias @ 7:46 PM