City having trouble taking out the trash

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.