Bantargebang Rubbish Mountain 17 Storeys High to be Converted to Electricity
Coordinating Minister for Food Zulkifli Hasan announced that the government will construct a Waste-to-Energy Facility (PSEL) at Bantargebang, Bekasi City, West Java, intended to reduce Jakarta’s waste volume, which reaches nearly 8,000 tonnes per day.
“Jakarta’s facility will be at Bantargebang. Hopefully the incident from yesterday will not be repeated. This shows we indeed need to accelerate—we do not want another problem, we want to speed up,” Zulkifli Hasan said during a press conference in Jakarta on Thursday (12 March 2026).
The PSEL to be built at the site is designed to process approximately 3,000 tonnes of waste per day, consisting of 2,000 tonnes of new waste and 1,000 tonnes of accumulated waste already piling up at the disposal location.
The PSEL development plan is not limited to Bantargebang alone. The government is preparing two additional locations in Jakarta, with one situated in the Sunter area adjacent to Jakarta International Stadium (JIS).
The facility development programme forms part of the second phase of PSEL expansion, which encompasses construction of facilities at 14 locations across various regions. Cities included in the development plan are Lampung, Medan, Semarang, Surabaya, Tangerang, Tangerang City, and Serang.
“We expect these 14 PSEL facilities to be completed by mid-2028 to late 2028,” said Zulhas.
Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung explained that the landslide occurred due to extreme rainfall. The incident took place in zone 4A on Sunday (8 March 2026) at approximately 14.30 WIB. High rainfall caused water to penetrate the waste pile, creating slippery conditions that triggered the landslide. The waste landslide blocked the operational road and Ciketing River for approximately 40 metres.
Pramono called for immediate remedial action following his direct inspection of conditions at the site, emphasising that area normalisation must be conducted promptly to enable activities at Bantargebang to resume.