Aussie firm interested in compost project<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): An Australian company is likely to process the
\nhuge amount of garbage at the Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi, east
\nof here, into marketable compost, a city official said on
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n
Deputy chief of the Jakarta Recycling Agency, Sugiono
\nSoewahjo, said the foreign firm, called CASE, has shown interest
\nin the project since July of this year and has already submitted
\na letter of intent concerning the project to the local authority
\nin Bekasi.<\/p>\n
\"The company has the technology to excavate the waste and
\nseparate the organic and non-organic waste dumped in Bantar
\nGebang, while the Bekasi local authority will provide a site very
\nclose to the dump for the production of compost,\" Sugiono said.<\/p>\n
Jakarta, he stressed, would not have to spend a single penny
\non the project but would be temporarily allocated adequate space
\nfor the disposal of its waste.<\/p>\n
Bekasi comes under the jurisdiction of the West Java
\nprovincial administration.<\/p>\n
According to Sugiono, CASE has a similar project in the South
\nSulawesi capital of Makassar.<\/p>\n
Bantar Gebang, the city's only dump, is located approximately
\n40 kilometers east of the capital. The city administration
\ninitially planned to close down the dump and build a new one in
\nTangerang following regular complaints from local residents about
\nfoul odors in the vicinity of the dump.<\/p>\n
Bantar Gebang, which has the capacity to handle some 12,000
\ncubic meters of garbage per day, currently receives 20,000 to
\n30,000 cubic meters per day. The local administration plans to
\nestablish a new dump in Tangerang in 2003.<\/p>\n
Sugiono said senior officials from the Bekasi administration
\nand executives of the company held a meeting with Governor
\nSutiyoso about the project recently.<\/p>\n
So far, he added, the three parties had yet to decide on a
\ndetailed time frame for the recycling project.<\/p>\n
When asked separately on Tuesday, Sutiyoso explained that the
\nproject had attracted the interest of many foreign companies, but
\nhe had yet to receive any reports on the realization of the
\nproject in the immediate future.<\/p>\n
\"Many parties have come to us and stated their willingness to
\ntake on the project. But I haven't heard about anything firm so
\nfar, or maybe they just forgot to send a report to me,\" he told
\nreporters.<\/p>\n
But, the governor added, he had no objection at all to any
\nfirms willing to take part in waste recycling.<\/p>\n
\"I'll fully support it as long as the city administration
\ndoesn't have to spend any money out of our budget and the garbage
\nproblem can be resolved,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Monday, City Sanitation Agency chief Saksono
\nSoehodo said that Jakarta currently produces 60,000 tons of
\ngarbage per day, 65 percent of it in the form of organic waste.<\/p>\n
Judging from the type of the garbage, it would be quite
\nfeasible to produce compost from the Bantar Gebang waste, Saksono
\nsaid. (dja)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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