Jakarta seeks alternative dumpsite<\/p>\n
Annastashya Emmanuelle and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta
\nPost, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Amid uncertainty about the capital's garbage disposal policy
\nfollowing the Bantar Gebang controversy, the Jakarta
\nadministration is approaching towns bordering Bekasi, Tangerang,
\nDepok and Bogor to explore whether they may be able to assist in
\nhandling the city's trash.<\/p>\n
The five administrations met on Thursday at the home affairs
\nministry to discuss the issue.<\/p>\n
Aware of its inability to handle the garbage competently by
\nitself, the city administration has suggested cooperation with
\nprivate companies to manage the waste under the supervision of a
\nboard formed by two or more administrations.<\/p>\n
Each of the administrations would be required to pay fees to
\nthe companies, based on the amount of garbage they dump. Should
\nproblems occur, such as environmental damage, the administrations
\ncould cut the fees paid to the companies as a punishment.<\/p>\n
\"Other administrations welcome the idea, therefore, we expect
\nthe board to be established,\" city administration spokesman,
\nMuhayat, said.<\/p>\n
The city produces more than 25,000 cubic meters, or 6,000
\ntons, of garbage a day. Most of the garbage is dumped at Bantar
\nGebang, which is located in Bekasi, West Java.<\/p>\n
The Bekasi mayoralty closed the site down last week in
\nresponse to environmental degradation caused by the dump. The
\nclosure caused panic within the city administration, as it had
\nnot prepared alternative sites or methods for processing the
\ncapital's garbage.<\/p>\n
For several days, piles of untransported garbage were visible
\nthroughout the city, some of which still remain.<\/p>\n
However, several days after the closure the Bekasi mayoralty
\nagreed to reopen the dump, though with several conditions
\nattached, including the construction of a medical center at the
\nsite.<\/p>\n
Should the administration fail to improve conditions at the
\nsite by Jan. 31, 2002, the mayoralty has said it will close it
\ndown again.<\/p>\n
The city administration, however, indicated that it might not
\nbe able to meet the deadline due to its limited budget.<\/p>\n
This year the budget for garbage management was Rp 90 billion,
\nwhile next year's reportedly amounts to Rp 220 billion.<\/p>\n
The lack of transparency in the expenditure of funds has led
\nto allegations of corruption in the City Administration Agency.<\/p>\n
According to Muhayat, the city administration also planned to
\ndiversify the handling of garbage by, among other things,
\nestablishing new garbage dump sites, adding incinerators to some
\ntemporary dumps and converting trash into compost.<\/p>\n
It also planned to send some of the city's garbage to Bangka
\nregency in Bangka Belitung province following the signing last
\nweek of a memorandum of understanding allowing the administration
\nto send 4,000 tons of garbage a day to the regency, which plans
\nto use it to fill in disused tin mines.<\/p>\n
Separately, the State Minister of Environment, Nabiel Makarim,
\ncalled for people's participation in managing the city's garbage,
\nby not dumping garbage recklessly and by separating organic from
\nnon-organic waste.<\/p>\n
Households could process their organic waste into compost
\nwhile the non-organic waste could later be taken to the city's
\nfinal dumping site, Nabiel said on the sidelines of his visit to
\nBantar Gebang.<\/p>\n
By doing so, less waste would need to be dumped at Bantar
\nGebang, thus reducing the burden on the site.<\/p>\n
Unlike in the days preceding Nabiel's visit, Bantar Gebang was
\norderly, with no piles of garbage scattered on the fringes of the
\ndump and with the leachete pool functioning properly.<\/p>\n
The minister said that, in the long term, the city's garbage
\nproblem could be solved by combining several options such as
\ninvesting in incinerators, and continuing with a properly managed
\nsanitary landfill system, although incinerators were expensive
\nand required skilled workers for the system to work efficiently.<\/p>\n
\"If our economic conditions improve this could be implemented.
\nIn the meantime, we don't have much of an option other than to
\nmanage our garbage with a sanitary landfill system,\" Nabiel said.<\/p>\n
Bantar Gebang had been designed to operate as part of a
\nsanitary landfill system, but the city administration had simply
\npiled the garbage in the open.<\/p>\n
\"Mismanagement is the cause of the disaster of Bantar Gebang,\"
\nNabiel said, \"This site should have been properly operated so
\nthat it didn't produce negative outcomes for the nearby
\nresidents.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jakarta-seeks-alternative-dumpsite-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}