Markus Junianto Sihaloho – While the nation has been focused on religious violence and corruption scandals, the House of Representatives has been moving ahead with a plan to build a Rp 1.2 trillion ($137 million) office building.

Refrizal, a deputy chairman of the House's Household Affairs Committee (BURT), which is in charge of the project, confirmed that bidding was scheduled to open this month.

"The target of the House's Secretariat General, which is in charge of the budget for this project, is that the bidding will take place this month. We hope to begin construction by the end of June," Refrizal said on Sunday.

"The bidding will be open to all construction companies, state-owned and private. However, BURT would prefer if this project were won by state-owned contractors. I mean, what if the project were won by private contractors and they ran away with the money before finishing the project? That's a dangerous risk."

He said that BURT and the Secretariat General agreed to use a revised design for the building in response to criticism. He added, however, that the design still had not been drawn up.

The House proposed a new office building for lawmakers last year and the project immediately ran into controversy. The original price tag was Rp 1.8 trillion, which was revised to Rp 1.3 trillion in the face of public criticism.

"We have estimated that the new building will only cost Rp 1.2 trillion," Refrizal said.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie earlier this month said the cost could be below Rp 1 trillion.

Marzuki, from the ruling Democrats, also claimed the project enjoyed unanimous support from all parties, although the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) have both filed formal objections to the plan.

Uchok Sky Khadafi, the coordinator for investigations and advocacy at the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), alleged that lawmakers had lied to the public since the beginning.

Uchok said the House had manipulated a study by the Ministry of Public Works on technical repairs required by the current building, overemphasizing the structural weaknesses.

"The ministry only recommended technical repairs, not a new building," he said.

He claimed that the lawmakers also lied when they said they would cut the cost of the new building from Rp 1.8 trillion to less than Rp 1 trillion. A planning and budgeting document from the House Secretariat General, clearly stated the building would cost Rp 1.8 trillion, he said.

"We allege that the lawmakers cannot stop the project because they might have accepted gratifications from the construction companies, which we believe are state-owned," Uchok said.

He calculated that a budget of Rp 1.8 trillion meant that taxpayers would spend roughly Rp 3.2 billion per lawmaker for their new offices. That sum is equivalent to a luxurious house in a top residential complex in Jakarta.