Garbage incinerators operated inefficiently<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
While the City Sanitation Agency is rocked by alleged graft
\nrelated to the purchase of 10 incinerators funded by last year's
\ncity budget, the facts show that a number of incinerators that
\nwere purchased earlier were not properly operated.<\/p>\n
Saidin, 56, an operator of a waste incinerator in Lenteng
\nAgung subdistrict, South Jakarta, said that the incinerator could
\nnot be operated efficiently as he did not receive enough kerosene
\nfrom the South Jakarta Sanitation Office.<\/p>\n
\"We should have received 90 liters of kerosene per day to
\noperate the incinerator, but I only got 50 liters. I do not know
\nwhere the other 40 liters goes,\" he told The Jakarta Post on
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n
Due to the lack of fuel, Saidin said he had to make the best
\nof the kerosene he had. Instead of pouring the kerosene inside
\nthe tank of the stove to burn the waste, Saidin just pours the
\nfuel over the waste directly and sets fire to it.<\/p>\n
As a result, the process produces a large amount of smoke and
\nis against environmentally friendly waste management techniques,
\nan essential objective of burning waste in an incinerator in the
\nfirst place.<\/p>\n
The incinerator, if operated full-time, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30
\np.m., could burn up to 14 cubic meters per day, according to
\nSaidin.<\/p>\n
It is one of five incinerators that were purchased using the
\n2000 city budget, but Saidin said the one in Lenteng Agung
\nstarted to operate in June 2001.<\/p>\n
Last month, some city councillors revealed alleged graft in
\nthe purchase of 10 new incinerators using the Rp 3.2 billion
\nfunds of the 2001 city budget.<\/p>\n
Head of City Sanitation Agency Slamet Limbong has admitted the
\nirregularities, saying they were perpetrated by his predecessor,
\nSaksono Soehodo, who was dismissed by Governor Sutiyoso in
\nDecember over his failure to resolve garbage problems in the
\ncapital.<\/p>\n
Critics say the failures in waste management have had much to
\ndo with rampant corruption in the agency.<\/p>\n
Tarsa, 50, another incinerator operator at Petamburan
\nsubdistrict, Central Jakarta, said that the burning machine was
\noperated only once every two days due to the limited supply of
\nfuel provided by the Central Jakarta sanitation office.<\/p>\n
\"If we operated it every day, we would need a lot of fuel,\"
\nTarsa told the Post on Monday, adding that the incinerator could
\nonly burn about eight cubic meters per day.<\/p>\n
Tarsa also said that he could only deal with around half of
\nthe amount of garbage brought to the incinerator station. The
\nother half was carried to Bantar Gebang dump.<\/p>\n
Although the incinerator in Petamburan has not been
\nfunctioning optimally, a new incinerator that was purchased by
\nthe 2001 budget, was also positioned at the same site.<\/p>\n
Limbong argued that his agency had found it difficult to seek
\na place for the new incinerator.<\/p>\n
He added that so far the city administration had 15
\nincinerators. Five were funded by the 2000 city budget while 10
\nwere funded by the 2001 budget.<\/p>\n
This year the city administration plans to purchase some 25
\nmore incinerators.<\/p>\n
But Limbong could not guarantee that all 25 incinerators would
\nbe purchased this year, saying that his agency still had no idea
\nwhere to place the machines.<\/p>\n
\"We set a target to purchase 25 incinerators this year, but
\nimplementation depends on the availability of land for the
\nproject,\" Limbong told the Post on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The city produces at least 25,000 cubic meters of household
\ngarbage per day. Most of the waste is disposed of at the Bantar
\nGebang dump site in Bekasi. Last December, Bekasi closed the dump
\ndue to environmental damage. The two administrations later signed
\na new MoU that lasts until the end of the year and which could be
\nextended until 2003.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the city is making an effort to handle the
\nwaste by signing a cooperation agreement with an American company
\non how to deal with the household waste, while an Australian
\ncompany has agreed to invest in the management of human waste.<\/p>",
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