Steel Bars and the Reputation of Construction Projects

Kompas/Ryan Rinaldy

Two workers install steel tension rods into the brackets of a pier head on Tuesday (6/3) at the Bekasi-Cawang-Kampung Melayu (Becakayu) toll road project on Jl DI Panjaitan, East Jakarta. It has been reported that the Feb. 20 collapse of a pier head at the construction site was caused by a reduction in the number of steel rods that were used to bind the pier-head brackets.

For heaven’s sake! That\'s what can be said upon reading about the collapse of scaffolding that supported a pier shaft at the Becakayu toll road construction site in Cawang, East Jakarta.

The accident on the toll road project connecting Bekasi-Cawang-Kampung Melayu was not simply due to negligence. Seven workers were wounded in the incident, which was allegedly caused, among others, by the fact that the number of steel rods or stress bars used to bind the buffer was reduced from the initial design of 12 stress bars to four bars.