APPI: Don't Let The SPAM Project Give Birth To New Corruptors

JAKARTA - Chairperson of the Indonesian Parliamentary Observer Alliance (APPI) Aris Manji urged Commission V of the Indonesian House of Representatives to supervise and examine the construction project for the Drinking Water Supply System (SPAM) pipeline in West Semarang.

The reason is, it is strongly suspected that the project tender process at the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) is a deviation requirement. One of the indications is the technical evaluation process that has been ignored by the PUPR Ministry.

According to Aris, a number of irregularities in administrative requirements in this project confirm the occurrence of collusion in the process of determining the winner of this project.

"We ask the House of Representatives Commission V not to be silent. Show us its supervisory function. Do not let this SPAM project have the same problems as before. Do not let new corruptors be born in this project," said Aris to reporters in Jakarta, Monday, November 8.

Aris said that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the Agus Rahardjo era suspected that there had been bribery practices in 20 SPAM projects. The indications are that a number of internal PUPR officials have also been questioned due to the massive corruption in the project.

In fact, a number of officials are now in prison and not a few businessmen and internal PUPR officials have been investigated by this anti-corruption agency.

"It should be, as soon as there is an odd smell in this project, an evaluation and inspection will be carried out immediately. Don't wait for the project to run and then take action," said Aris.

Aris continued, contractors, both private and state-owned enterprises, including ministry officials, should reflect on the previous SPAM project. Because many have been hit and become prisoners.

"No more abuse of authority. Remember this SPAM project is for the sake of the nation and state. Do not continue to be used as an arena for corruption," he said.

Aris further revealed that there were a number of odd smells in the hundreds of billions worth of projects whose financing was sourced from public money. One of them is in the process of determining the winner.

According to him, in the tender for the West Semarang SPAM project, one of the main requirements is the existence of a Hirizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) machine with a capacity of more than 150 tons, totaling 2 units.

"I received information, in the winning company documents, the uploaded tools are still used for other projects and have been contracted until 2022," said Aris.

Thus, if the information is true and the facts on the ground are like that, said Aris, WIKA should have lost the tender winner.

The reason is that the same tools used in the work do not exist. Because it is being used in another work place at the same time.

"Well, if the bidding document is finally corrected according to the rules, it shouldn't be called post bidding, so the winner should fall. What's wrong with this?" asked Aris.

Therefore, he urged that projects such as SPAM be implemented transparently and no more collusion. Because it is not impossible if this practice is allowed then the public will be more inclined to see the performance of the Jokowi government.

"It's better not to continue. It's a shame that almost all officials in prison are on average because of the construction project at PUPR. It's better to be disciplined from now on than later after the findings are found," he concluded.

It is known that based on tender information data on the LPSE PU website, the West Semarang SPAM Piping Network Development project, Central Java, has a ceiling of IDR 227,867,915,000. The winner of this project tender is PT Wijaya Karya (Persero) Tbk or known as WIKA, which is a state-owned construction service company.