City likely to see garbage crisis early next year

City likely to see garbage crisis early next year

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Due to continued environmental problems, the Bekasi
administration might close again Bantar Gebang dump early next
year, forcing the Jakarta administration to look into three
alternative dump sites in the city, an official said on Thursday.

"Bekasi will possibly close again the (Bantar Gebang) dump.
But we are now developing other alternative dumps," head of the
Jakarta Sanitation Agency Slamet Limbong told reporters at City
Hall.

The three alternatives are Cilincing, North Jakarta; Tegal
Alur, West Jakarta and Bojong in Bogor, West Java.

Slamet said a team comprising experts from the University of
Indonesia and Bekasi University, was still evaluating
environmental problems in the 100-hectare Bantar Gebang dump.

He claimed that it was still feasible to use the dump, which
has been used since 1986, for the next five years. "But, we will
comply with whatever the team suggests. The team has not
completed its evaluation yet," he said.

Bekasi Mayor Nonon Sonthanie earlier revealed that the
municipality may cancel its contract with Jakarta, saying that
the dump would be closed as it caused environmental damage.

Nonon accused Jakarta of failing to fulfill its agreement to
rectify environmental damage in the area around the dump site.
Jakarta made the promise in January before signing a new
memorandum of understanding on extending the use of Bantar Gebang
as the garbage dump for the city.

Due to the damage, Bekasi closed the dump for a week in
December last year, causing a garbage crisis since thousands of
tons of trash was left uncollected in Jakarta.

Jakarta had paid Rp 14 billion in compensation to the Bekasi
administration for the reopening of the dump which reportedly
polluted residents' wells and caused air pollution in the
surrounding area.

Besides continuing environmental damage, Bekasi councillors
asserted that the Rp 14 billion managed by the Bekasi
administration had been corrupted. They revealed some of the
money was used to develop roads built by companies owned by
activists of non-governmental organizations.

The councillors found last week that the newly built roads
were damaged. The activists, who had earlier criticized Bekasi
and Jakarta during the garbage crisis, had no expertise in
building roads.

Councillors said the money was also used to purchase cars and
computers for district offices in Bekasi which had no connection
with the garbage dump problem.

Many saw the demand for the closure of the dump as a ploy of
the municipality to "blackmail" the Jakarta administration into
paying more money to the Bekasi administration.

Since the dispute on the garbage dump, Jakarta has signed
several memorandums of understanding with local and foreign
companies to manage the city's garbage which amounts to 5,000
tons a day.

Slamet revealed on Thursday that construction work on the
three dumps, a 4.5 hectare plot in Tegal Alur, West Jakarta, a
10-hectare site in Cilincing, North Jakarta and 25 hectares of
land in Bojong, Bogor regency, would begin in December.

He said the West Jakarta dump would use Canadian technology to
process 1,000 tons of garbage a day into solid and liquid
fertilizer.

The Cilincing dump which would process 1,500 tons of garbage
into electricity, among other things, will be managed by a joint
venture company comprising a Chinese firm, state-owned
electricity company PT PLN and the city administration.

The dump in Bojong Gede is owned by a private company which
has reportedly secured a permit from the regency.

Slamet claimed that the processing costs in the new dumps
would be cheaper, at about Rp 53,000 per ton compared with that
of Bantar Gebang that currently reached Rp 60,000 per ton.