Comment: Projects worth billions lay dormant in NTT

June 28, p. 5

A special committee set up by legislators in East Nusa Tenggara’s (NTT) Timor Tengah Utara regency has discovered several completed construction projects in the area worth billions that are lying dormant and neglected.

One example, according to special committee chief Agustinus Talan, was a Rp 4 billion (US$422,386) facility meant to supply drinking water that has yet to be put to use to serve local communities, even though the facility was completed in 2008.

Your comments:

We are talking about “kicking in open doors” when we read about these similar and frequently repeated stories of wasting community money through the past decade and in the future to come.

Unfortunately, it is a common reaction to what is happening in this so-called “socially driven society”, which focuses on getting their hands on national and/or international grants it seems.

I am already happy, glad and impressed that these stories are reported by the local media, but not confident that anybody in higher or lower levels of government feels responsible to rectify these situations, or even better, to prevent them of happening.

Partly, this can also be blamed on the ignorance of the fund’s providers, whether they are national or international, despite their intentions.

Any new project, large or small, should be tested against a (local) master plan.

If one doesn’t exist, establishing one should be the first step before even initiating the projects.

Subsequently, following proper methods of organizing, coordinating and management by means of “process management” is needed in order to avoid waste and create a better distribution of community money.

Independent auditing always must be an integral part of such actions. I realize that such ideas very often do not fit into corrupt minds, but it is the proper and only direction for the genuine word “development”.

Jorith Arbier