Ami Afriatni – Almost a month has passed since Palembang hosted the closing ceremony of the Southeast Asian Games but the organizers still have a mountain of debt to settle.
The South Sumatra House of Representatives revealed on Monday that the province still owes Rp 324.9 billion ($35.7 million) to Prambanan Dwipaka, the company that built the athletics stadium, aquatic center, and shooting range. Just two days later, Games organizer Inasoc admitted it still owes Rp 60 billion to suppliers.
South Sumatra lawmaker Syaiful Islam said the House had received a letter from the government requesting clearance to pay the debt by allocating money from next year's provincial budget.
"Before we discuss the debt, the ownership of those venues has to be clear. We have to know whether those venues belong to the central government or the province. Then we'll know who should pay the debt and look after the venues," Syaiful told news portal Tempo.co on Monday.
Djoko Pekik, secretary of the Youth and Sports Affairs Ministry, confirmed the debt and said that both the central and provincial governments were working on a way to settle the debt.
"The plan was to finance those venues with central and provincial government funds, and also some funds from sponsors," he said. "However, several companies withdrew their support for the venues' development. We've been discussing this with the Coordinating Ministry for People's Welfare and we hope to settle this debt as soon as possible."
The South Sumatra government, which reportedly spent Rp 3 trillion to build 11 venues for the biennial regional Games, refused to comment on the matter.
The central government has spent almost Rp 2 trillion since 2009 to help fund the Games, which were hosted by Indonesia for the first time since 1997.
The extent of the debt problem became cleared on Wednesday when Inasoc deputy chairman Djoko Pramono told the Jakarta Globe that eight vendors had yet to be paid. The vendors in question provided medals, athletes' jerseys, the IT system, the accreditation system, the lighting for Lebak Bulus Stadium, technical handbooks and doping tests.
"Five of them had received a down payment, but three others will get their down payment [on Wednesday]," he said. "Then we must pay all the money we owe to them in full."
He did not specify a time frame for the payment. "In total we owe around Rp 60 billion, including Rp 40 billion for the IT system," he added.
Djoko said the money to pay the debts has actually been in Inasoc's account all along; however, the bureaucratic process to liquidate the cash takes time. However, he said the vendors understood Inasoc's situation and that none of them had been pushing to get their payments.
"Since the start I told them that they were working for the country. But I put my own neck and reputation on the line, so we better settle this soon," Djoko said. "We used their goods and services, so we have to pay them."
The Games was seen as an ambitious project from the start after Indonesia picked Palembang, which lacked any international standard sporting venues, to host the event along with Jakarta.
A lack of funding and complicated bureaucracy meant that most of the venues in the South Sumatra capital were finished behind schedule.
The organizer's task was complicated by a graft scandal surrounding the building of an athletes' village in the city. A Sports Ministry official is alleged to have received bribes in exchange for awarding contracts.
Despite those shortcomings, the Games went ahead without any major problems and Indonesian athletes topped the medal tally for the first time since 1997. The success was hailed as potentially the beginning of a new, dominant sporting era for the country.