Crowded With Community Criticism, Bandung City DPRD Cancels Procurement Of 47 'Luxury' Cellphones Worth IDR 1 Billion

Chairman of the Bandung City DPRD, Tedy Rusmawan. (ANTARA/HO)

BANDUNG - The Bandung City Regional People's Representative Council (DPRD) finally canceled the plan to procure smart phones for 47 council members with a budget value of more than IDR 1 billion.

The chairman of the Bandung City DPRD, Tedy Rusmawan, said that the decision to cancel was the result of discussions with party factions and after hearing objections from the public.

"With this, we convey that the procurement of mobile phones has been cancelled. In essence, the expectations from the public are like that. So, thank you," said Tedy in Bandung, Antara, Tuesday, February 22.

Initially, he said, the plan to procure smart phones for council members was aimed at facilitating the work of legislators during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to him, the condition of the board members who are busy with online meetings needs to be supported with adequate equipment.

"With an extraordinary work rhythm during the pandemic, they have to (conference) Zoom like that, then to access the data on the discussion of regional regulations, in 2021 we discussed about nine regional regulations, including the previous ones," he explained.

The plan for the procurement of smartphone goods is listed on the Information System page for the General Procurement Plan of the Government Goods/Services Procurement Policy Institute (SiRUP LKPP) with a ceiling of IDR 1,085,648,300 for 47 smart phones.

Then, on the page it is also stated that the procurement is planned to come from the Regional Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBD). The details of the mobile phone procurement package for the Bandung City DPRD on the page appear to be last updated on December 31, 2021.