Aspeknas alleges irregularities in Tanjung Uban tender

The National Construction Firms Association (Aspeknas) has alleged some irregularities occurred during the tender process for the repairs of Pertamina?s Tanjung Uban fuel storage facility on the Bintan island of Riau province, Bisnis Indonesia reported in its Saturday edition.

Aspeknas Jakarta chief J. Sri Sadono said the tendering process for the contract repairs of the Rp 27 billion Pertamina project violated the Presidential Decree No. 80/2003 on public procurement. Thus, his organization suspected there was a fishy deal in the selection of the contractor for the project.

For instance, he said, Pertamina announced the tender only in the local media. Actually, under the presidential decree, it should have been announced in the national media.

In addition, the participants were given only three days to submit their tenders, which was too short for a project of the scale. There were only 8 participants in the tender, while in normal process, tender for projects worth Rp 5 billion could attract 15 participants.

That?s why, he said, Aspeknas had asked Pertamina to reorganize the tender for the project.

The Tanjung Uban facility is currently used by Pertamina to store clean products. The facility currently has a jetty, which only accommodates up to 40,000 dead weight ton (dwt) ships. (*)