City may return to Bantar Gebang dump after Bojong clash

Damar Harsanto and Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Bogor

The Jakarta administration is looking into the possibility of returning to the Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi municipality should it be unable to resolve the controversy over the Bojong waste disposal plant in Bogor regency.

"If we can't go ahead with our plan to use Bojong, we have no other choice but to use Bantar Gebang. We will use Bantar Gebang for the next five years, as stipulated in our contract with the Bekasi administration," City Sanitation Agency head Selamat Limbong said on Monday during a hearing with City Council Commission D for development affairs.

Commission D chairman Sayogo Hendrosubroto expressed doubt that Bojong plant operator PT Wira Guna Sejahtera (WGS) would be able to overcome in the near term the problems it faces in opening the plant, including fierce opposition from residents and lingering legal questions.

"Even after two years of preparation by the operator, the plant is still strongly opposed by locals. The recent bloody clash will only complicate the operator's plans to go ahead with the project in the next six months," he said.

Seven people were injured on Nov. 22 when police officers opened fire on villagers protesting the waste plant, which they fear will cause health problems and damage the environment. Officers fired on the crowd when some of the protesters attempted to vandalize the plant.

There are also legal questions about the status of the plant, as expressed in differing opinions by Bogor Regent Agus Utara Effendi and former state minister for the environment Nabiel Makarim.

Agus said in an Oct. 6 letter to Bogor Police chief Sr. Comr. Bambang Wasgito that the construction of the Bojong facility did not violate any regulations.

However, Nabiel wrote to the regent on Dec. 4 to say the construction of the plant violated the regency's master plan. He went on to say the facility should have been located in Nambo village.

The waste treatment facility in Bojong was built to ease the capital's dependency on the Bantar Gebang dump. Residents living near Bantar Gebang have long complained that the 6,000 tons of untreated waste that arrives daily from Jakarta causes environmental damage and health problems.

The Bojong plant was expected to absorb about 2,000 tons of Jakarta's waste and also 400 tons of Bogor regency's waste per day.

WGS president director Sofyan Hadi Wijaya said the violent protest by residents of eight villages near the Rp 110 billion plant had caused about Rp 8 billion in damage.

Meanwhile, 18 villagers have been named as suspects in the protest. Bojong Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Muhammad Taufik said they would be charged under Article 170 of the Criminal Code on vandalism. The article carries a maximum sentence of five years and six months in prison.

Police will submit the case files of the suspects to the Bogor Prosecutor's Office on Monday.

Governor Sutiyoso warned that the failure to open the Bojong plant would cause a waste crisis in the city.

"Jakartans must prepare to sleep on piles of waste. We will never be able to solve our waste problem without using the kind of technology the Bojong plant has for processing waste," he said.