About garbage fees

About garbage fees

From Warta Kota

Warta Kota reported on Sept. 7, 2000 that the Jakarta administration was planning to increase the garbage fee and that it would be paid along with electricity bills, not through the executive boards of neighborhood community/associations (RT/RW), as is the practice now.

I take exception to the change because it is the RT/RW heads that best know which garbage belongs to which member of the neighborhood. The Jakarta sanitation service does not have this information. It may well be that a resident simply burns his/her garbage at the back of their house.

The Jakarta governor must be aware of the fact that not every resident needs the service of a garbage man. Therefore, a garbage fee cannot be imposed squarely on every resident because if it is, some residents will be disadvantaged.

Besides, I am not sure that garbage fee collection through RT/RW is less effective than the planned collection along with the payment of electricity bills. Obviously, as the sanitation service does not have accurate information about the residents needing its service, it will impose this fee only on an average basis.

Once again, the governor must not force people to pay the garbage fee unless they subscribe to the garbage disposal service. He must find a suitable and fair way to impose the fee.

NURHASANAH

Jakarta