Bantar Gebang garbage dump has no permit: Official

JAKARTA (JP): City administration has not yet acquired an operational permit for the Bantar Gebang subdistrict in Bekasi to operate as a garbage dump since it began in 1986, an official said on Tuesday.

Deputy chairman of the city's sanitary agency, P.J. Sugiono Suwahjo, said the city administration had only acquired a principal permit from the neighboring provincial administration of West Java.

"I don't know why, but we have only obtained a principal permit from the West Java administration after we appropriated the land for a garbage dump in 1984," Sugiono said.

He denied an allegation recently aired by the Bekasi legislative council that the 108-hectare garbage dump was operating illegally.

Common property development practices rule that developers should acquire an operational permit before they start construction of development projects. A principal permit only validates the ownership of the property.

Bekasi councilors last week accused the Jakarta administration of violating common property development practices. They also demanded the closure of the garbage dump after all the environmental damage it caused to the surrounding neighborhood.

Sugiono said the city administration would continue using the Bantar Gebang subdistrict as its garbage dump site until the year 2004.

"For the time being, we have no other choice but to continue using the garbage dump site," he said.

He called on people, especially Bekasi councilors, to be tolerant and avoid issuing emotional statements because Bekasi residents also used the Bantar Gebang dump as their dump site.

An average of 700 cubic meters of garbage from Bekasi is thrown in the dump site every day, while Jakartans dispose of 23,000 cubic meters of garbage daily.

Sugiono said the city administration was improving garbage management in the dump site by, among other things, covering the trash in the dump with soil.

Bekasi Mayor Nonon Sonthanie demanded, however, that the Jakarta administration close four of the five zones in the dump site.

"The four zones are already overloaded. It's no longer capable to receive trash," Nonon said in Bekasi on Tuesday.

He suggested that the Jakarta administration should now open the 15-hectare area of the fifth zone.

He regretted that the Jakarta administration had not yet covered the trash with soil to avoid burning it as announced earlier.

The mayor acknowledged that Bekasi residents dumped trash in the dump site free of charge.

The Bekasi mayoralty would spend Rp 1.5 million (US$187.50) per day if they dumped their trash in the other site, the Setu garbage dump in Bekasi regency, he said.

Nonon asked the Jakarta administration to build a permanent community health center in the area to help locals who suffer from environmentally related diseases.

"A health operation currently conducted from village to village is not enough," he said.

Thousands of Bekasi residents reportedly suffer from a respiratory disease. The garbage dump has reportedly also contaminated the residents' water sources. (jun)