"Based on the contract with the Public Works Ministry (PU), the period of our maintenance for the bridge is only for 180 days which ended in 2001," HK Corporate Secretary Ari Widiyantoro said here on Tuesday night.
He said that the maintenance period of the Kukar bridge by HK was not long because it was still in the project`s construction period from 1995 to 2001.
After that period, HK conducted a final hand over (FHO) to the ministry of public works in its capacity of the provider of the maintenance work.
"We have handed over the technical and physical work to the work provider because the have completed the maintenance work," Ari said.
He said that his company only knew that the last company to do the maintenance work was PT Bukaka Teknik Utama in 2011.
In the meantime, PT Bukaka Tekni Utama`s Product Development Vice President Eko Ariwandono said before his company was given the task of the maintenance the bridge was already in `sick` condition.
"Before it was given to us, it was already sick. The bridge was already admitted to the `emergency unit`," Eko said.
The Kukar bridge which spanned 710 meters over the Mahakam river in East Kalimantan, is the longest suspended bridge in Indonesia with a suspended section of 270 meters.
It collapsed last Saturday when traffic was busy on it, killing at least 18 people, injuring about 30 people and causing many others to still go missing.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has instructed an investigation into the cause of the collapse of the bridge which began operation ten years ago.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
