Before taking a decision, the Ministry of Sports and Youth will conduct an assessment of the 33-hectare Hambalang National Sports Development, Education and Training Center (P3SON) project, in cooperation with the Governments Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) and the Public Work and Public Housing Ministry.
"The Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs has to prepare a detailed and complete report on the project," said the Sports and Youth Affairs Minister, Imam Nahrawi, who accompanied President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) during a tour of the neglected complex last Friday.
He said his ministry will study whether to continue with the project as per its initial design to function as an athletics school and a training center or as a high school of sports.
"We need dormitories for athletes just like the Sports School in Ragunan which produces some of the best athletes. Athletes are housed there during training," noted the minister.
However, the minister will decide the status of Hambalang based on the study being undertaken by the BPKP and the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing.
"The planning of the project will remain our responsibility, including its budget and design. We will prepare it and I will report to the president," the minister stated.
In the meantime, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is of the view that the P3SON project was not worth pursuing.
"Actually, the site of the project is not suitable for construction. Its feasibility study should be reviewed," Acting Chief of KPK Public Relations Bureau, Yuyuk Andriati, said on Friday (March 18).
The KPK has met with the State Audit Board (BPK) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs to provide inputs, including explanations by a team of experts had made during the legal proceedings in the Hambalang case.
It is understood that the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs is willing to continue with the development of the Hambalang sports complex project that had come to a standstill due to a corruption case and a technical reason.
President Jokowi visited the P3SON site in Sentul, Bogor (West Java), and expressed his desire to resolve the issue soon since it involved massive state funds.
"It was mentioned during the court hearing that the lands contours and soil structure of the site was not stable. After all, up to now, one of the suspects in the corruption case is still in court process," added Yuyuk.
However, she said, the decision to continue with the project was not in the hands of the KPK.
A number of people were implicated in the Hambalang project scandal, including Deddy Kusdinar, former head of Youth and Sports Ministrys planning bureau and Andi Mallarangeng, the former youth and sports minister.
Now the government is studying the possibility of continuing with the project.
Therefore, President Jokowi has ordered the BPKP to carry out comprehensive auditing of the Hambalang project, according to Presidential Special Staff Johan Budi SP said.
Johan Budi said at the Presidential Complex on Monday that comprehensive auditing by the BPKP was one of the three steps that must be taken before deciding whether to continue with the project or not.
As another step, the Public Works and Public Housing Minister should carry out further studies regarding the projects topographic and building conditions.
"The government will also discuss the project in a limited cabinet meeting at the Presidential Palace with various stakeholders," Johan Budi, who is a former KPK spokesman, remarked.
He said the Attorney Generals Office was still investigating the procurement of goods for the project. "Only after that, a decision would be taken on whether to continue with the project. The main point is that a high value state asset should not remain neglected," the presidential special staff said.
According to Johan Budi, the asset must be safeguarded and whether it will be used to house athletes or for a different purpose will depend on the assessment of the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry.
The Hambalang sports complex project was started in 2003 when it was under the auspices of the Directorate General of Sports of the Ministry of Education and Culture. It aimed to build more sports facilities outside the Ragunan Sports Centre in East Jakarta.
In the 2004 -2009 period, the project was taken over by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs, which handled land clearance, land certificate, geological study and the drawing up of its master plan.
In 2009, Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs proposed a budget of Rp1.25 trillion for the construction of the project.
When he was questioned by the KPK as a witness in the Hambalang project case, then finance minister Agus Martowardojo said that Sports Affairs Ministry and the House had initiated the change of the Hambalang sports complex construction contracts from a single-year to multi-years scheme.
As the consequence of the change in the status of the contract from a single year to a multi-years scheme, the budget should be increased.
"The budget of the project was raised to Rp2.5 trillion by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs together with the Houses Commission X on sports affairs," the minister said after being questioned as a witness by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in February 2013 over the sports complex construction scandal which caused a loss of Rp243.66 billion to the state.
Following the collapse of a number of sports buildings in the project in December 2011, reportedly due to the subsidence of land and inappropriate soil texture beneath, the then sports and youth Affairs minister Andi Mallarangeng ordered the stoppage of the project.
Besides technical problems, the project was also grappling with a legal problem as funds for its construction are alleged to have been marked up.
The Hambalang case came to fore when it was revealed by M. Nazaruddin, a former Democrat Party treasurer who was then a fugitive in connection with the alleged corruption in the construction of an ASEAN athlete housing complex in South Sumatra.
In a telephone conversation with a private TV station in July 2011, Nazaruddin said that the tender winners for the Hambalang project had been decided even before they were called.
Nazaruddin added that PT Adhi Karya and PT Wijaya Karya paid Rp100 billion in bribes to win the tenders for the project worth Rp1.5 trillion.
(A014/INE)
EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/KR-BSR/A014)
Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
