Two state-owned construction companies, PT Wijaya Karya (WIKA) and PT Waskita Karya (WSKT), have expressed their commitment to continuing to strengthen governance amid indications of conflicts of interest within the company.
The expressed commitment is a response to results of the initial screening of all State-Owned Construction Enterprises (BUMN Karya) by the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) which stipulates that there are indications of conflicts of interest, involving BUMN Karya employees who also perform as subcontractors.
Regarding this matter, WIKA President Director Agung Budi Waskito said that strengthening the company’s governance is believed by the management as the most fundamental thing in ensuring sustainable business processes.
“With the strengthening of governance, we continue to strive for the trust of stakeholders, so that WIKA’s transformation steps in the future will be continuously supported and proceed well,” Agung said in a written statement on Friday, February 2, 2024.
WIKA management has reported that they have been strengthening governance in recent years. In 2023, for example, WIKA expanded the scope of implementing the Anti-Bribery Management System (SMAP) and created guidelines for conflict of interest prevention. The company also provided the WIKA digital whistle-blowing system (WBS), which has been integrated with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) since 2021 for handling complaints related to gratuities.
In procurement of goods and services, WIKA implements procedures based on the principles of transparency and accountability using an electronic procurement system (e-proc) integrated with the procurement.com website in selecting working partners. Meanwhile, in selecting MSME working partners, this BUMN Karya company utilizes a platform developed by the Ministry of SOEs called PADI MSME.
On the other hand, Waskita Karya is committed to continuously improving comprehensively and sustainably in line with the company’s transformation program, which carries three pillars, namely portfolio & innovation, lean, and digitalization.
Waskita Karya President Director Muhammad Hanugroho said the company is currently very selective in choosing projects, especially in terms of payment certainty, down payment, monthly payments, and through the Construction Risk Management Committee. With these steps, it is hoped that projects obtained by Waskita can proceed on time and smoothly, and have a positive impact on the company’s performance.
“The company centralizes procurement and engineering, and implements lean construction concepts in ongoing projects, with cost efficiency and reorganization as lean office concepts,” Hanugroho said, while adding that digitization is also equally crucial.
Besides being more efficient, these efforts are a form of improving good corporate governance implementation, especially in terms of transparency. Digitization efforts include the implementation of the System Analysis and Product in Data Processing (SAP), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and Building Information Modeling (BIM).
The implementation of SAP and ERP digitization aims to control all costs more effectively and transparently due to the real-time integrated system. Meanwhile, the implementation of BIM is carried out in every project and is able to work efficiently so that projects can be completed faster.
In previous reports, BPKP Investigations Deputy Agustina Arumsari said that in general, BUMN Karya had problems related to accounts associated with subcontractors. This issue is similar to what happened at Waskita.
“For example, there are employees who also become subcontractors,” Agustina said on February 1, 2024, while citing that there are also transactions that cannot be traced.
Agustina stated that details of the BUMN Karya problems will be presented by the Deputy of Finance and Risk Management of the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, Nawal Nely, to BPKP next week.
After the presentation, Agustina stated, that BPKP would further investigate transactions from BUMN Karya that cannot be traced. Therefore, there is a possibility of embezzlement by the company.
She said that BPKP also coordinated with Public Accountant Offices (KAPs) regarding the initial screening of BUMN Karya.
The results showed that several KAPs mentioned that there were indications indicating conflicts of interest.
“There are indications such as conflicts of interest, why are there employees who become subcontractors, there are transactions that cannot be traced, then there are subcontractors whose appointments are not accountable,” Agustina explained.
In other developments, Agustina said that BPKP had completed the Waskita audit and handed over the results to the SOE Ministry in mid-December 2023.
“For the Waskita Karya audit, we have handed it over to the Ministry of SOEs. It is currently undergoing a process to improve the conditions at Waskita Karya,” she concluded.
