City admits violations at Cilincing dump
City admits violations at Cilincing dump
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration admitted for the first time that it has
violated the environmental regulations by openly dumping some of
the capital's 6,000 tons of daily waste on swampy land at the
temporary dump in Cilincing, North Jakarta.
The city spokesman Muhayat said on Monday that the
administration has failed to comply with the existing procedures
and later damaged the environment around the 15-hectare dump.
"We just dumped our waste there because it was an emergency to
overcome the possible waste crisis in the city. We did not
prepare the land in accordance with the procedures and
regulations," he said.
The administration decided to use the temporary dump after it
closed down the Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi municipality on Jan.
4. Jakarta has been using Bantar Gebang to dump its waste since
1986.
Governor Sutiyoso had ordered the closure of Cilincing dump
following the reopening of Bantar Gebang on Jan. 27. However, the
Cilincing dump has already polluted nearby fish ponds and killed
thousands of fish and shrimp in the area. Fish farmers demanded
the administration to pay Rp 340 million (US$40,476) in
compensation for their losses as they will not be able to use
their farms for the next five years.
Muhayat said that the administration was currently
implementing the rehabilitation process on Cilincing dump which
involved personnel from the sanitation, fishery and public works
agencies.
"Assistant to the city secretary for development affairs (IGKG
Suena) will monitor the day-to-day process," he said.
The sanitation agency head Selamat Limbong said last week that
the rehabilitation process would take two months. The
administration has been building concrete blocks as a wall around
the dump to prevent further pollution to the surrounding areas.
According to Limbong, his agency would compress the garbage
and then cover it with soil as part of the rehabilitation
process.
Separately, the Office of the State Minister of the
Environment told a media gathering that the Cilincing dump had
been polluted by hazardous substances including lead (Pb),
Mercury (Hg), manganese (Mn) and cyanide from liquid waste
seeping from the huge pile of garbage at the dump.
"We call on the administration to design an action plan to
rehabilitate the dump as soon as possible so that we can monitor
the progress of the rehabilitation," said Tanwir Yazid Mukawi, an
official from a division overseeing pollutions at the minister's
office.
According to Tanwir, the liquid waste could spread and pollute
the surrounding areas as it could run along with the rain water.
"The rainy season could accelerate the environmental damages
caused by the liquid waste."
The result of the tests show that the highly toxic cyanide and
hazardous heavy metal compounds of lead and mercury were
contained in the water of the fish farms around the dump.
Heavy metals can severely affect human health and it can also
be fatal not only to humans but also vegetations and animals.