Bojong locals want dump closed

BOGOR: At least 50 people representing residents living around the Bojong dump in Klapanunggal district, Bogor, complained to the Bogor Council on Tuesday, demanding the closure of the dump.

Earlier, the councillors had promised residents the operation of the dump would be delayed in response to their strong resistance.

The dump is designed to accommodate garbage from Jakarta and several districts of Bogor.

The residents, accompanied by an executive of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), Suratno, also complained of intimidation due to the presence of policemen and soldiers guarding the dump, which is ready to set to start operation soon.

"We cannot let our neighborhood be converted into a dump, I don't want my children and grandchildren falling sick because of the pollution caused by the dump," housewife Nunung, 52, of Ciuncal village, said in a dialog with the councillors and representatives of the Bogor administration.

The Bogor city administration head of infrastructure, Suwandi, claimed the dump would use the ball press system and not a sanitary landfill as is used in the Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi. -- Antara