T

he Finance Ministry has proposed revisions to the presidential decree on the Sunda Strait Bridge project, that could remove some of the initiator’s advantages to winning the contract.

An official document obtained by the press on Monday reveals that the interim head of the ministry’s fiscal agency, Bambang Brodjonegoro, has sent a letter on the revisions to the secretary of the Office of the Coordinating Economic Minister, with copies to ministers Hatta Rajasa and Agus Martowardojo, Deputy Finance Minister Mahendra Siregar, Deputy Public Works Minister Hermanto Dardak and other high ranking
officials.

In the letter, dated April 30, Bambang proposed a revision to Presidential Decree No. 86/2011 on the Sunda Strait Strategic Industrial Region Development project which allows the government to provide “support and guarantees” to the project.

Bambang told The Jakarta Post on Monday the revisions were proposed in the spirit of good
governance.

The proposed revisions suggest the government could finance a feasibility study into the project. The current decree says that only private funds from the project initiator, PT Graha Banten Lampung Sejahtera - a consortium of Tomy Winata’s Artha Graha Group with the regional governments of Lampung and Banten — can be used to finance a feasibility study.

As the appointed financier of the feasibility study, the consortium would retain a 10 percent preferential right and the right to match the lowest bidder in the project tender. Preferential right means the consortium could bid 10 percent higher than the lowest other bidder and still win.

The right to match means the consortium could obtain information on the lowest bidder and match the bid.

This letter provides another piece of the puzzle on the Sunda Strait Bridge brouhaha.

Recently, the public learned that Agus sent a letter on June 8 to Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto, asking about the possibility of using state funds to finance the feasibility study on the project.

When asked if the initiator would lose its preferential rights if the decree was revised, Bambang said that all stakeholders would try to find the best solution to the matter.

Artha Graha vice president director Wisnu Tjandra said that the initiator would only comply with the current regulations as stipulated in the decree.

— JP/Hans David Tampubolon