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Contractors return funds in Medan failed street-lighting project
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Bobby Nasution (center) speaks to reporters in Medan on March 12, 2020. (Tribun Medan/Danil Siregar)
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ix contractors in Medan, North Sumatra, have started returning the money they had received for a street-lighting project worth Rp 21 billion (US$1.41 million), which was declared a failure by Mayor Bobby Nasution last month.
Five of the contractors have so far been reported to have returned Rp 2.85 billion of the money.
“Some of them pay [once] a week, while some others pay [once] every three days. The total amount of money that has been returned is Rp. 2.85 billion,” Bobby said in Medan, on Wednesday.
The mayor said if the contractors did not return the money they had used for the project, he would take the case to court. The Medan administration gave the six contractors 60 days to return all the money.
Bobby, who is also President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s son-in-law, announced that the 1,700 street-lights project was declared a failure on May 9 after the project had been completed but was criticized by the public.
The mayor said there were several indicators leading to the project being deemed a failure, including the construction process and the lamp materials used that did not comply with existing regulations.
“This project was deemed a failure because, after a thorough inspection, it was found that the materials, specs and distance between each street light were not built in accordance with existing regulations,” said Bobby.
