If only the Indonesian Museum of Records would put on record the busiest man selling a government project to the public, Mahmun Yunan would make a good choice. The head of the Aceh provincial infrastructure office has been selling Ladia Galaska for months, making a presentation of the controversial road project before, at last count, no fewer than 59 non-governmental organizations and community groups. "The latest one was last week before community leaders from 11 districts in the province," Yunan said with a laugh.

More presentations are being planned. Little wonder for Ladia Galaska, a road that will cut across the Leuser forests, has been sowing controversy since it began two years ago.

Environmental groups have charged the project would destroy the ecosystem and make it easier for illegal loggers to enter the protected forests and accelerate the rate of deforestation in the area. The government, on the other hand, looks at the project as an important step toward improving the economy of the local population by breaking the isolation of the hinterland with a road that will link areas in the eastern coast facing the Indian Ocean and the western coast on the Malacca Straits.

The conflict of interests between the need to preserve the environment and the need to promote economic growth is only one aspect of the debate. NGOs charge the project is rife with corruption.

Planned for completion in 2006, the 470-kilometer road is being built at a cost of Rp950 billion with funds provided by the central government under the national budget and work on the construction of the project under the coordination of the Department of Settlement & Regional Infrastructure.

Of the total cost, Rp250 billion has been disbursed over the past two years. "Rp100 billion of the funds disbursed was used in 2003 to upgrade the status of the provincial road into a state road," Governor Puteh told Tempo.

Siswoko, Inspector General at the Department of Settlement & Regional Infrastructure, says an audit has been made of the money spent in 2003. "No irregularities are found," he adds. An audit is yet to be made on expenditures in 2004.

But it's not the expenditures made in 2003 and 2004 that's being questioned by NGOs, but those in 2002. "We found as much as Rp26.9 billion of public funds had been misappropriated in 2002," says Bambang Antariksa, Executive Director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) in Aceh.

Although officially launched only in 2003, after approval by the legislature, construction of some sections of the road began as early as 2001 with funds provided under the "List of Projects for the Province of Aceh for 2002." The funds were allocated for a special project called "Road and Bridge Development Projects for the Province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam." Altogether 19 road and bridge development projects are covered under the List of Projects (DIP), four of them on the construction of sections of Ladia Galaska, between Jeuram-(Lhok Seumot) and Beutong Ateuh; Beutong Ateuh and Takengon; Blangkejeren and Lokop; and Lokop and Peureulak.

NGOs charge inconsistencies have been found in the reports on funds allocated under the National Budget (APBN) and those under the Regional Budget (APBD).

Some expenditures were found to have not been stated in Governor Puteh's 2002 Year-End Report to the local legislature in August 2003.

Although both NGOs and TEMPO found irregularities in the project, investigation by this magazine produced different figures in amount misappropriated-lower than those reported by the NGOs. Apparently, the NGOs based their calculations on eight sections being funded by the APBN, while only four were actually so funded. Unlike TEMPO, the NGOs also based their calculations on the original DIP published January 1, 2002, not on the revised DIP published October 28, 2002 as TEMPO did. This magazine found about Rp2.2 billion of a total Rp9.4 billion disbursed under APBN in 2002 was not clearly accounted for.

While funds allocated under APBN for four sections of the road matched with those stated in Puteh's report, the governor strangely reported the money

allocated for the Lokop-Peureulak in the amount of Rp8.3 billion derived from APBD, not from APBN. Under the revised DIP this section of the road was allocated Rp8.5 billion in funding under APBN. Where then did the money from the central government go?

"Funds from APBN and APBD were spent on the same section, but for different purposes, such as for the construction of culverts. The remaining Rp4.9 billion of the total was used on sections outside Ladia Galaska," says Yunan.

Irregularities were also found on the Beutong Ateuh-Takengon section. Puteh reported Rp2.8 billion was spent on the section in accordance with the revised DIP. But under an agreement signed with CV Tripa Jayua on May 6, 2002, the contract was valued at only Rp1 billion. Where did the remaining Rp1.8 billion go? Yunan says the money went to another project. "The money was spent on a section outside Ladia Galaska, between Takengon and Pameuh."

Of a total budget of Rp2 billion allocated for the Blangkejeren-Lokop section, only Rp477 million was reported to have been spent. Under the revised DIP the money was supposed to be spent on the Rikit Gaib-Blangkejeren section, not on Blangkejeren-Lokop. No proof of a contract was given on Rp400 million in funds transferred to another section. According to Yunan, "the funds were transferred to another section, between Blangkejeren and Trangon."

Yunan's explanation that that funds were used on another project might be true. But transferring them to another project was wrong. Bambang Brojonegoro, an economist at the University of Indonesia, says any transfer of allocation to another project should be started in the revised DIP.

Deddy Supriady Bratakusumah, an expert on regional economy, agreed, saying it was a wrong thing to do if the transfer was not called for in the revised DIP. Moreover, he adds, "No one could guarantee that the transfer really took place."

So who should then be responsible? Both Bambang and Deddy were of the opinion that every expenditure under APBN for the project should be accounted for by the local infrastructure office to the Department of Settlements & Regional Infrastructure. "They are the people most responsible for the change and transfer of the allocation," says Bambang.

Settlement & Regional Infrastructure Minister Soenarno says he knew nothing of the expenditures made in 2002. "I did not know anything about APBN funds disbursed before 2003." Siswoko, his inspector general responsible for auditing, said he could not examine the records for 2002. "They [the auditors] were threatened with violence if they went down and audited the records."

As a result, irregularities in the project, which still have to run through 2006, remain a mystery. The way things are going, Muhyan Yunan will find himself busier than ever explaining Ladia Galaska to the public in the days ahead.