Bekasi now manages Bantar Gebang

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Bekasi municipality administration officially started to manage the Bantar Gebang dump site on Jan. 1, 2004, and plans to process the waste into compost. It will also involve residents living around the dump so that they can earn extra income.

"Each subdistrict in the area will be represented by five people processing the waste into compost," said Bekasi deputy mayor Mochtar Muhamad on Thursday. Around 500 residents will be involved in compost production.

Mochtar was speaking during the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Bekasi and Jakarta, the latter of which was represented by head of the City Sanitation Agency Salamat Limbong. The signing was a result of Bekasi's decision on Dec. 22 to allow Jakarta to dump its 6,000 tons of daily waste at the dump.

In the last two months, Jakarta had been in limbo, as Bekasi had insisted on not extending the contract because it considered Jakarta had damaged the environment and endangered public health around the dump.

The Jakarta administration has allocated Rp 47.5 billion (US$5.59 million) from its 2004 budget for the dump, of which some Rp 25 billion will be spent on compensation for the Bekasi municipality.

Bekasi will also allow Jakarta to treat its waste in the dump at a rate of Rp 85,000 per ton of waste. The municipality administration has estimated it could earn up to Rp 500 million per day from treating Jakarta waste alone.

The waste treatment process will involve officers from the Jakarta Health, Sanitation, Spatial Planning and Transportation agencies and the Bekasi Public Works Agency.

"We have two investors -- PT Trimitra and a rector of a noted university in Jakarta -- who are interested in waste treatment at Bantar Gebang," said head of the Bekasi Public Works Agency Tjandra Utama, as quoted by Tempointeraktif news portal.

The Bekasi administration will also build low-cost apartments for the workers and establish a cooperative for scavengers.

However, people living around Bantar Gebang were disappointed at the decision.

"The use of Bantar Gebang by Jakarta should have terminated on Dec. 31. It should not have been extended and handed over to Bekasi to manage -- it's a lie," said Suwandi.

He argued that the dump did not produce any benefit for locals.

"The public will suffer from both the environmental damage and the negative social impact," he lamented.