PGN denies illegal payment in pipe procurement tender

State owned gas distribution company PGN has denied a report that the company's executives have asked for a commission of up to 2 percent from the bidders of its pipe procurement tender, Investor Daily reported on Friday.

PGN's corporate secretary Widyatmika Bapang said in a press statement that the allegation was baseless. "But if so, please give us concrete information so that the management can take a necessary action," he was quoted as saying.

He said that the tender for the procurement of coating pipes for the second part of the South Sumatra and West Java pipeline was still in the evaluation process to determine its winner.

According to him, the tender was launched in May but it had to be reopened in June because all of the three bidding proposals submitted in the first tender did not meet the requirement set by PGN.

He said that four companies took part in the latest tender but one of them PT South East Asia Pipe Industry had decided to withdraw from the bidding process. At present, PGN is still assessing the bidding of the three companies, he added. (*)