City admits violations at Cilincing dump<\/p>\n
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The city administration admitted for the first time that it has
\nviolated the environmental regulations by openly dumping some of
\nthe capital's 6,000 tons of daily waste on swampy land at the
\ntemporary dump in Cilincing, North Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The city spokesman Muhayat said on Monday that the
\nadministration has failed to comply with the existing procedures
\nand later damaged the environment around the 15-hectare dump.<\/p>\n
"We just dumped our waste there because it was an emergency to
\novercome the possible waste crisis in the city. We did not
\nprepare the land in accordance with the procedures and
\nregulations," he said.<\/p>\n
The administration decided to use the temporary dump after it
\nclosed down the Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi municipality on Jan.
\n4. Jakarta has been using Bantar Gebang to dump its waste since
\n1986.<\/p>\n
Governor Sutiyoso had ordered the closure of Cilincing dump
\nfollowing the reopening of Bantar Gebang on Jan. 27. However, the
\nCilincing dump has already polluted nearby fish ponds and killed
\nthousands of fish and shrimp in the area. Fish farmers demanded
\nthe administration to pay Rp 340 million (US$40,476) in
\ncompensation for their losses as they will not be able to use
\ntheir farms for the next five years.<\/p>\n
Muhayat said that the administration was currently
\nimplementing the rehabilitation process on Cilincing dump which
\ninvolved personnel from the sanitation, fishery and public works
\nagencies.<\/p>\n
"Assistant to the city secretary for development affairs (IGKG
\nSuena) will monitor the day-to-day process," he said.<\/p>\n
The sanitation agency head Selamat Limbong said last week that
\nthe rehabilitation process would take two months. The
\nadministration has been building concrete blocks as a wall around
\nthe dump to prevent further pollution to the surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
According to Limbong, his agency would compress the garbage
\nand then cover it with soil as part of the rehabilitation
\nprocess.<\/p>\n
Separately, the Office of the State Minister of the
\nEnvironment told a media gathering that the Cilincing dump had
\nbeen polluted by hazardous substances including lead (Pb),
\nMercury (Hg), manganese (Mn) and cyanide from liquid waste
\nseeping from the huge pile of garbage at the dump.<\/p>\n
"We call on the administration to design an action plan to
\nrehabilitate the dump as soon as possible so that we can monitor
\nthe progress of the rehabilitation," said Tanwir Yazid Mukawi, an
\nofficial from a division overseeing pollutions at the minister's
\noffice.<\/p>\n
According to Tanwir, the liquid waste could spread and pollute
\nthe surrounding areas as it could run along with the rain water.<\/p>\n
"The rainy season could accelerate the environmental damages
\ncaused by the liquid waste."<\/p>\n
The result of the tests show that the highly toxic cyanide and
\nhazardous heavy metal compounds of lead and mercury were
\ncontained in the water of the fish farms around the dump.<\/p>\n
Heavy metals can severely affect human health and it can also
\nbe fatal not only to humans but also vegetations and animals.<\/p>",
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