Indonesia orders halt to major transport projects after spate of injuries

The government of Indonesia has called a halt to major transport projects after seven workers were injured in the east Jakarta suburb of Bekasi.

The incident, which happened during the construction of the Bekasi-Cawang-Kampung Melayu toll road, occurred when a girder pole on collapsed at 3pm on 19 February. All seven workers are undergoing treatment at UKI Hospital in Cawang, east Jakarta, and are in a critical condition.  

There have been 14 accidents at Indonesian sites in the past two years. Earlier this month, a girder launcher collapsed at the construction site of a quadruple railway track project in Matraman, also in east Jakarta, killing four workers and injuring five others.

Indonesia’s Construction Safety Commission will now evaluate the suspended projects.

The government has recently been intensifying public works in the run-up to the 2018 Asian Games, which will take place in Jakarta and Palembang.

Joko Widodo, Indonesia’s president, said: "Whatever the projects are, be it in normal or the accelerated ones, they require pertinent and more detailed supervisory tasks."

Widodo also suggested improvements should also be made in construction management.

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation has recommended that the government carries out a forensic engineering investigation to determine what stage of construction is causing failures.

Tulus Abadi, Indonesian Consumers Foundation chairman, said: "These accidents are partly due to construction failure. The accidents also indicate that the infrastructure projects were not well-planned or that they lacked rigorous and consistent supervision."

In January this year, 73 people were injured in a walkway collapse at the Jakarta stock exchange building (pictured).