Bekasi, Jakarta reopen dump

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.