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Jakarta City Council committee has postponed a tender for the construction of an intermediary waste treatment facility (ITF) in Sunter, North Jakarta, after none of the bidders were able to produce bank statement showing sufficient funds.

The special committee was scheduled to hear presentations from three project bidders that had passed the prequalification phase of the tender on Friday morning.

Agency chief Eko Bharuna, however, said that the meeting had been canceled after none of the bidders was able to submit a bank statement showing sufficient funds.

“The council has determined that bidders need to have a deposit of at least 30 percent of the Rp 1.3 trillion project budget. Bidders also need to verify that the funds are in their full control,” Eko said.

Eko said that the administration had agreed to the delay in order to prevent financial problems in the future.

The three bidders are PT Phoenix Pembangunan Indonesia, PT Jakarta Green Initiatives and PT Wira Gulfindo Sarana.

According to procedure, bidders set out their proposals for the project on the basis of the criteria stated in the invitation to bid by the committee.

Muhammad Sanusi, a member of the council’s special committee, said separately that the bidders were given a week to verify their funds.

“If they fail to do so, the committee will stop the tender process and start all over again,” said Sanusi, a member of the council’s Commission D on development affairs.

The Sunter facility is one of two planned in the next two years, the other being the Marunda waste treatment facility. The city opened the Cakung-Cilincing facility last year. The facilities are all located in North Jakarta.

The treatment facilities are part of the administration’s efforts to reduce reliance on the 110-hectare Bantar Gebang landfill.

The Sunter facility has been designed to process up to 1,500 tons of garbage each day and the Marunda plant 2,500 tons a day.

The Cakung-Cilincing facility has the capacity to process 400 tons of garbage every day, which will be increased to 1,300 tons per day when it becomes fully operational. The facility occupies a 4-hectare plot of land, which will be expanded to 7 hectares.

Altogether, the three facilities will be able to process a total of 5,300 tons of garbage each day.

Jakarta produces an average of 6,500 tons of solid waste a day. The administration presently relies on the landfill in Bekasi.

The city sends 92 percent of its non-industrial waste, one-third of which comprises plastic and paper, to the landfill.

In 2009, the administration renewed its contract with the Bekasi administration to use the Bantar Gebang landfill for another 20 years.