Budget for Marunda dump rejected

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Puncak, West Java

The city council rejected on Thursday a proposed budget addition of Rp 18.5 billion for the construction of a refuse disposal site in Marunda, North Jakarta.

Chairman of the council's Commission D for development affairs Sayogo Hendrosubroto of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle said the decision was made not only because of the local residents' rejection of the dump, but also the unclear legal status of the 71-hectare site.

Hundreds of Marunda residents had twice visited the City Hall, protesting the planned development of the dump.

The land previously belonged to the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), but was taken over by the prosecutor's office after a land-swap scandal involving former president Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

Another councillor Mukhayar of the Justice Party suggested that the administration should invest in incinerators.

"For the near future, incinerators would be the best choice. A new garbage dump would need six months of construction time," Mukhayar said.

Separately, acting chief of the City Sanitation Agency Irzal Djamal said the administration would prepare other alternatives after the rejection of the Marunda dump.

The administration had earlier prepared a 60-hectare dump in the Tegal Alur area of West Jakarta, and allocated Rp 10 billion from the 2002 City Budget for the project, but that also fell through.

It is now considering a purchase of three incinerators worth Rp 250 million each.

It was rumored that the council suggested the use of incinerators because certain members were willing to act as brokers for the expensive purchases.

Serious trash problems in the city came to a head late last year after the temporary closure of the city's main dump at Bantar Gebang in Bekasi, and the issue is not resolved as Bekasi is threatening to close it again on Jan. 31, if the city fails to meet Bekasi's demands for the use of the site.

The city, meanwhile, still expects that Bekasi will allow the city to dump its 25,000 cubic meters of trash per day in Bantar Gebang.

"We are still negotiating with Bekasi. We hope we can continue our cooperation," Irzal said.