City having trouble taking out the trash

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Mountains of filthy, rotting garbage piled up on street corners could once again become an odorous feature of life in Jakarta by January if the city does not find alternate sites to dispose of its trash, as the Bantar Gebang dump plans to close its doors for good.

If all the preparations supposedly being made by the City Sanitation Agency have not been completed by January -- when Bantar Gebang's contract is finished -- to handle the 6,000 tons of garbage produced daily by Jakartans, there are sure to be major sanitation problems across Greater Jakarta as there was in January 2002.

The only treatment facility that is ready is in Bojong village, Bogor regency, but it will only be able to handle some 1,500 tons of garbage. However, even that facility is facing protests from local residents.

A number of residents in Bojong told journalists visiting the garbage treatment facility on Thursday that they did not want to become victims of pollution like the people living near Banter Gebang dump.

"I heard that the quality of life for residents around Bantar Gebang is terribly grim, and I certainly do not want our lives to be like that," said Mimin, 40.

Mimin urged the Jakarta administration to cancel its plan to use Bojong.

She said the villagers would demonstrate in front of the House of Representatives if their protests were ignored by the administration.

Similar protests were also held in late June by some 500 people from surrounding villages which may be affected by the project including Bojong, Cipeucang, Situsari, Singasari, Sukamaju, Singajaya, Cileungsi, Sirnagalih, Jonggol and Klapanunggal.

But the administration brushed off the protesters, saying simply that the residents would not be affected by the project. The officials also said that the only reason the people were protesting was because they had been, "provoked by the non- governmental organizations (NGO) who claim to be interested in the environment."

Bojong dump site is one of three that the administration hopes will become operational and replace Bantar Gebang by this December.

The two other sites are located in Cilincing, North Jakarta and Duri Kosambi in West Jakarta, but neither is prepared to accommodate the city's garbage within five months.

Head of the City Sanitation Agency Selamat Limbong was unable to give an answer about how the city was planning to dispose of its garbage.

He only expressed a faint hope that officials in the city's dozens of subdistricts would take over his role in handling the waste.

Apparently recognizing the city's lack of proper planning to handle the garbage issue, Governor Sutiyoso expressed on Tuesday his wish to renegotiate with Bekasi for the extension of the use of Banter Gebang dump.

However, Bekasi Deputy Mayor Mochtar Muhammad said on Wednesday that his administration would absolutely not renegotiate with Jakarta for extending the use of Bantar Gebang dump.

Bekasi mayoralty closed the site on Dec. 5 2001, due to environmental damage. The closure had caused garbage to pile up in many parts of the city.

A week later, Bekasi reopened the dump, and gave the city the deadline of Jan. 31, 2002 to renew its memorandum of understanding (MOU).

The dispute between the Jakarta city administration and the Bekasi mayoralty over the use of the dump ended with the signing of a new agreement with a requirement that the city should compensate the local administration to the tune of Rp 14 billion in 2002 and Rp 8.75 billion in 2003.

That agreement was reached with mediation by Minister of Environment Nabiel Makarim and President Megawati Soekarnoputri.