Jakarta dump site plan meets tough resistance<\/p>\n
Theresia Sufa
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nBogor<\/p>\n
Bogor policemen fired warning shots at hundreds of residents of
\nBojong and Situsari subdistricts and arrested four who showed
\nstrong resistance to the plan to establish a dump site for the
\ncapital Jakarta in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n
The accumulated tension hit the ceiling on Thursday morning
\nafter the residents sighted dozens of police officers who were
\ndeployed near Rawajeler hamlet of Bojong subdistrict, where the
\ndump site will be established.<\/p>\n
After strong opposition to the plan over the last four months,
\nthe residents urged the Bogor administration to install waste
\ntreatment processing units at the site.<\/p>\n
About 500 residents joined hands to obstruct traffic by
\nplacing used tires, logs and rocks on the road.<\/p>\n
\"Both the Bogor administration and the security officers know
\nwe have opposed the establishment of a dump site here because we
\nknow all about Bantar Gebang but they just don't care. They still
\nsend the machines,\" Rawajeler resident Dudung, 45, told The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Bantar Gebang dump site in Bekasi receives 6,000 tons of
\nJakarta household waste every day. The area is highly polluted as
\nthe garbage is just piled into a huge mound with no processing of
\nthe waste, driving residents from the area.<\/p>\n
Water and air pollution have been the main complaints arising
\nfrom the use of Bantar Gebang dump site. Analysts have blamed the
\npollution on the inadequate implementation of the sanitary
\nlandfill system.<\/p>\n
When Bekasi administration officials started to complain that
\nthe trash at the site was not properly processed as promised by
\nJakarta and threatened not to extend the contract, the Jakarta
\nadministration claimed it had prepared three separate locations
\nfor waste treatment facilities.<\/p>\n
One of the three is in Bojong, where the administration is
\nsaid to have installed one waste treatment processing plant with
\na capacity of 1,500 tons per day that will be ready for use by
\nJanuary despite the residents' opposition.<\/p>\n
Two other facilities in Duri Kosambi, West Jakarta, and on Jl.
\nCakung Cilincing in East Jakarta will be ready by June 2004.<\/p>\n
When the police started to remove the blockade, the residents
\napproached to stop them. The police fired warning shots several
\ntimes to scare the residents away.<\/p>\n
Jaka, 51, of Ciuncal hamlet, Situsari district, tried to
\napproach the police to show them a copy of a letter issued by the
\nBogor City Council which states that the plan to establish the
\ndump site should not be continued.<\/p>\n
Dadang said the police grabbed Jaka and shouted that he was a
\nprovocateur. \"They put him in the police truck,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Three other residents: Samad, 25, of Ciuncal hamlet; Apin, 50;
\nand Taing, 55; both residents of Rawajeler, were also taken away
\nby the police.<\/p>\n
Comr. Heri Santoso, head of the Bogor Police operation unit,
\nsaid police were deployed to secure the project to widen the road
\nconnecting Cileungsi and Klapanunggal areas.<\/p>\n
\"The administration recommenced work after the long holiday by
\nsending back the heavy equipment for the road construction. But
\nsomeone incited the residents by telling them that the equipment
\nwas for the dump site construction,\" he told reporters.<\/p>\n
Heri denied that four residents had been arrested, saying that
\nonly three were taken to Bogor Police Headquarters.<\/p>\n
\"We summoned them to explain clearly to them that the heavy
\nequipment was to be used in the road construction. We also asked
\nthem to pass the information on to other residents, because we
\ncannot afford another delay on the project,\" he argued.<\/p>",
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