City may return to Bantar Gebang dump after Bojong clash
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.