Many Irregularities, PSELs In Bekasi City Are Considered Forced To Run

Illustration of garbage collections in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi City (ANTARA)

The determination of the winner of the auction for the Waste Into Energy (PSEL) project in Bekasi City is considered a time bomb for the Acting Mayor of Bekasi, Raden Gani Muhammad.

Researcher of the Indonesian Sustainability Sigmaphi, Gusti Raganata, assessed that the project worth IDR 1.8 trillion seemed forced to be announced in a process that was less than a month old. In addition, there are a number of notes in the cooperation partner selection process. Previously on September 20, the auction committee answered a number of irregularities. Among them, not conducting consularization at the Indonesian consulate office in the country of origin of the document, namely China. It is also suspected that they do not have a specified business field, namely the Classification of the Indonesian Business Field Baku (KBLI) number 35111 and 38211.

In addition, it is reported that the company appointed as a waste management partner in Bekasi City has proposed a higher waste processing service fee than the maximum requirement of IDR 405,000 tons of waste per day.

Another note is that it is suspected that it only has guarantees of offers from foreign banks, it should be mandatory for domiciled banks in Indonesia, at least book bank III. Finally, it is suspected that the location for processing waste into electrical energy is in green land.

"If these notes are true, this matter will be a time bomb for the current Acting Mayor of Bekasi," said Gusti, in his statement, Monday, October 2.

Based on the minutes of the evaluation of PSEL's technical prerequisites in Bekasi City, number 42.EV.HPT/PP/PLTSA.LH/2023, this auction was won by a consortium from China EEI-MHE-HDI-XHE. Meanwhile, the local CMC-ASG-SUS consortium did not pass.

The two tender participants entered the technical offer document on September 6, 2023 and the announcement of the auction was delivered on September 19, 2023, the day before Mayor Tri Adhianto ended his tenure which lasted just a month.

According to Gusti, given the strategicity of this project, the Acting Mayor of Bekasi, Raden Gani Muhammad, needs to pay close attention and evaluate the results of the selection of this waste processing partner.

"If you really don't deserve to be a partner, that decision can be reviewed," said Gusti.

If the waste processing in Bekasi City is ineffective, the garbage that cannot be accommodated and cannot be processed will later become the public's spotlight regarding the effectiveness of the use of the budget by the Bekasi City Government under the leadership of Acting Raden Gani Muhammad.

The construction of waste processing installations into electrical energy in Bekasi City is stated in Presidential Decree number 35 of 2018 concerning the acceleration of the construction of waste processing installations into electrical energy based on environmentally friendly technology. Bekasi City is one of the areas appointed to accelerate as stated in this Presidential Regulation.

The appointment of a third party was carried out by Bekasi City several years ago, but failed because a third party was deemed unable to fulfill its commitment so that it was declared default.

Waste processing installations will be built at the expense of selected partners, with a processing capacity of 900 tons of waste per day or around 290 thousand tons per year.

Currently, according to Bekasi city government data, the total waste production in Bekasi City is 1,800 tons per day, about 80 percent of the waste is transported to Sumurbatu Final Disposal Site (TPA), Bantar Gebang, Bekasi City.