Bandung to be garbage-free in vicinity of summit venue

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post/Bandung

With the Asian-African Summit (AAS) drawing close, the West Java provincial administration has decided to move to solve the serious garbage problem in Bandung city.

West Java deputy governor Nu'man Abdul Hakim said that the city would be cleaned up starting this Friday, to be ready for the arrival of hundreds of dignitaries from Asian and African countries attending the summit on April 23 and April 24.

As of Friday, the amount of garbage piling up on roadsides was estimated at 160,000 cubic meters.

Nu'man said that the main problem in dealing with the waste was the absence of a place to dump it.

The city's garbage was formerly taken to the Leuwigajah dumping site. This site was closed down following the landslide tragedy on Feb. 21 that killed at least 143 residents.

Nu'man said the provincial administration has decided to reactivate five old dump sites -- Jelekong, Babakan, Pasir Impun, Pasirbuluh and Cicabe -- to temporarily deal with Bandung's garbage. The five dump sites will work 16 hours a day.

"We don't want to create such an embarrassment, presenting our honored guests with the sight of garbage, piled up and smelly. We'll prioritize the garbage clean up along the main roads that will be passed by the official visitors," Nu'man told journalists after re-launching the Cikapundung River clean up program on Friday.

Cikapundung River, which flows through the center of Bandung, is one of the rivers being given priority to be cleaned up. Mud and garbage sedimentation in the river was estimated to reach 50 tons.

Nu'man said it would cost up to Rp 4.7 billion (US$500,000) to transport garbage from the city to the final dumping site.

He added that the provincial administration would provide only 30 percent of the transportation costs, while the remaining cost would be taken care of by the Bandung municipal administration.

In the garbage clean up program, Bandung regency would also be helping out by providing 27 garbage trucks, while Cimahi mayor Itoch Tochija has requested the Istana Group developer to transport 20,000 cubic meters of garbage daily to dump sites.

Bandung mayor Dada Rosada said he has requested assistance from 200 property, banking and retail businessmen to deal with the waste problem.

Nu'man said the garbage problem was the administration's first priority.

He said that if the administration relied on the capacity of the Pasir Impun dumping site only, the garbage piling up along Bandung city roadsides might reach 168,000 cubic meters.