One body to handle waste management<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration intends to appoint one
\nbody to handle garbage in an attempt to make garbage disposal
\nmore efficient, city official Prawoto S. Danoemihardjo said
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
Currently four agencies handle 18,600 cubic meters out of the
\ncity's 25,400 cubic meters of daily garbage. The rest of the
\nwaste is dumped into rivers.<\/p>\n
The four parties are the sanitation agency, city-owned market
\nfirm PD Pasar Jaya, the public works agency and the park agency.<\/p>\n
Pasar Jaya cleans traditional markets; the public works agency
\ncleans sewers and rivers, and the park agency cleans the city's
\nparks.<\/p>\n
Prawoto, the city secretary's assistant in charge of economic
\nand development affairs, said a gubernatorial decree on a single
\nentity in charge of garbage will be effective in 1998.<\/p>\n
Prawoto said having four agencies to manage sanitation and
\ngarbage is often inefficient.<\/p>\n
\"Sanitation workers sometimes make matters worse by sweeping
\nstreet waste into gutters,\" Prawoto said.<\/p>\n
He said the idea of having one entity in charge of garbage was
\ndrawn from the experience of other cities.<\/p>\n
\"The idea surfaced after we saw the success of Bandung (West
\nJava) and Medan (North Sumatra) which appointed their city
\nsanitation offices to control garbage management,\" Prawoto said.<\/p>\n
Another factor causing inefficient garbage and sanitation
\nhandling is the small fees paid by the public.<\/p>\n
Sanitation fees range from Rp 250 (11 U.S. cents) to Rp 10,000
\naccording to a building's size. But Prawoto said people often
\nconfuse sanitation fees with garbage collection fees paid to
\ntheir neighborhood units.<\/p>\n
\"Having paid their garbage dues, people usually don't pay
\nsanitation fees,\" Prawoto said.<\/p>\n
He said only Rp 8 million of the targeted revenue of Rp 10
\nmillion of last year's sanitation fees was collected.<\/p>\n
He added that this year's target is Rp 12 million.<\/p>\n
\"This is really low, considering there are more than 1.5
\nmillion buildings in Jakarta,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He remarked the revenue should be more than 100 percent of the
\ntarget.<\/p>\n
Parking<\/p>\n
In a related development, Prawoto responded to an earlier
\nsuggestion from a councilor on progressive parking fees.<\/p>\n
Helmy A.R. Syihab who heads Commission C for city revenue
\nurged the government to charge additional fees for each
\nadditional hour people park their vehicles in city parking areas.
\nThe practice is already in effect in privately run parking areas.<\/p>\n
\"Progressive parking fees cannot be enforced in the city now,
\nconsidering people's diverse economic backgrounds,\" Prawoto said,
\nadding that the city needs to improve its parking services before
\ncharging progressive fees.<\/p>\n
A councilor from the Golkar faction, Bandjar Marpaung, agreed
\nwith Prawoto.<\/p>\n
\"We cannot only look at the profit to be made before passing a
\nregulation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"The administration must improve their services first, before
\nraising parking fees.\" (02)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/one-body-to-handle-waste-management-1447893297",
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