Bekasi, Jakarta reopen dump
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta and Bekasi administrations agreed on Tuesday to reopen the Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi municipality to end a waste crisis that has affected both areas since Jakarta closed the dump on Jan. 4.
"We have signed an agreement on the Bantar Gebang reopening ... . Starting tonight, we shall move our heavy equipment from our temporary dump in Cilincing, North Jakarta, to Bantar Gebang," Jakarta Sanitation Agency head Selamat Limbong told the media on Tuesday.
The agreement was signed by Jakarta city secretary Ritola Tasmaya and Bekasi municipality secretary Machmud A. Barmawi on Monday.
Limbong said that Jakarta would run deal with waste management at Bantar Gebang and that there would be no conditions imposed on the capital by way of compensation for the reopening of the dump.
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso ordered officials on Jan. 4 to close down Bantar Gebang dump, which had accommodated the capital's 6,000 tons of daily waste since 1986, because he did not want to be "cornered" by Bekasi.
Bekasi had demanded Jakarta pay Rp 85,000 (US$10) per ton of waste processed at the dump. The demand has become the focus of inquiry by a special team set up by Bekasi municipal council into Bekasi mayor Akhmad Zurfaih and deputy mayor Mochtar Mohammad.
Sutiyoso claimed that the agreement was signed based on a request from Bekasi.
"Bekasi has reopened the dump and we have taken up their offer (to use it)," he said.
On Jan. 8, Akhmad sent a letter to Sutiyoso to notify the governor that the Bekasi administration had allowed Jakarta to resume operations at Bantar Gebang.
Limbong said that Jakarta would continue to dump its waste at the site until waste management experts, to be appointed by both administrations, declare the dump no longer able to accommodate waste.
The waste piled up at Bantar Gebang is currently six meters high over 68 hectares of the dump's total 104 hectares. The remaining 36 hectares of the dump accommodate sanitary landfill infrastructure.
Residents living around Bantar Gebang have demanded Bekasi administration close down the dump as they contend it endangers public health and has damaged the environment. They blocked dump trucks from entering the dump and agreed to allow the trucks to enter after Bekasi administration promised to pay Rp 50,000 per month to each of the 700 families in the area.
Jakarta has been preparing an alternative dump at Bojong village, Bogor regency. The dump will use bale press technology to minimize environmental damage. However, it can only accommodate up to 2,000 tons of waste per day and will start operating next month.
Limbong said that the sanitation agency had also prepared other alternative dumps at a 15-hectare site in Cilincing, a 4.5 hectare site in Duri Kosambi, West Jakarta, which can accommodate 1,000 tons of waste per day, and a five-hectare area in Rawa Buaya, West Jakarta, which can also accommodate up to 1,000 tons of waste per day.
"The dump will use high-tech waste treatment plants and will be fully financed by local and foreign investors from Australia and Germany," he said, adding that the dumps would start operating next year at the earliest.