City to fund Rp 29b garbage projects
City to fund Rp 29b garbage projects
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
City administration officials have agreed to finance projects
worth Rp 29 billion (US$2.9 million) for the reopening of the
104-hectare refuse disposal site in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi, West
Java.
The commitment was made on Monday with the hope that the
Bekasi mayoralty would allow it to continue using the dump until
2003.
Jakarta promised to build a small hospital near the garbage
dump and construct water pipelines in three neighboring villages,
Ciketing Udik, Cikiwul and Sumur Batu, in order to minimize the
effects on the people from widespread environmental damage caused
by the piles of trash.
The city also pledged not to dump refuse outside of the site,
as had happened in the past, according to Deputy chief of the
City Sanitation Agency Rama Boedi.
The dump was closed on Dec. 10 following the recommendation of
the mayoralty council due to environmental damage. The city
produces at least 25,000 cubic meters of garbage every day and
most of it is dumped at Bantar Gebang.
Since the closure, mountains of decaying trash began piling up
around the city, triggering fears of plagues and epidemics.
After a series of meetings, Bekasi mayoralty finally agreed to
reopen the dump under certain conditions, or else, it will be
closed again on Feb. 1, 2002.
The environmental damage occurred as the sanitation agency
merely dumped the garbage in the open, instead of enacting a
proper, modern land fill system, which was agreed upon years ago.
The reopening of Bantar Gebang does not really solve the real
problems as there are many other things that need to be done by
the city to manage the garbage.
The city administration is seeking several alternatives,
including the purchase of incinerators, the privatization of
garbage management and cooperation with the administrations of
nearby Bekasi, Tangerang and Depok. It also plans to involve the
residents of Jakarta in handling the problem by ordering everyone
to separate organic and non-organic waste.