City to move dumping site

City to move dumping site

JAKARTA (JP): An official said Saturday City Hall will not
only dispose of garbage at dumping sites outside of the city but
will process it instead into organic fertilizer.

City Sanitary Agency Head Saksono Husodo said the step was
taken following Tangerang's opposition to its plan to develop a
100-hectare land site in Ciangir, Tangerang, as a replacement for
the Bantar Gebang garbage dumping site in Bekasi.

Tangerang councillors feared that the area around the dump
would be contaminated as has happened in Bantar Gebang.

Bekasi councillors have repeatedly asked Jakarta to close the
65-hectare dumping site since it has caused environmental damage.
Jakarta has decided to close the dump in 2003 according to its
permit although it could be extended until 2006.

Following Tangerang councillors' refusal of the Ciangir plan,
the Jakarta administration set up an operation with the private
firm PT Bio Fertilizer Indonesia to process the garbage into
organic fertilizer.

Saksono said that the city had signed a memorandum of
understanding with the company to build a garbage processing
plant in Duri Kosambi, West Jakarta, with an estimated investment
value of Rp 52 billion (US$6.12 million).

He said the city, which produces about 5,000 tons of garbage a
day, will get extra income from the fertilizer produced by the
processing plant.

Separately councillor Tjuk Sudono of the City Council's
Commission D for development affairs questioned City Hall's
seriousness in processing the garbage.

"The MOU was signed two months ago but there is still no sign
that the administration would build the plant," Tjuk of the
National Mandate Party said.

He thinks that the agency was reluctant to build the plant
because it might loose its routine budget.

"Since the plant will make a profit, the sanitary agency is
worried that its budget will be reduced," he said.

The agency spends more than Rp 90 billion a year to handle the
city's garbage. (jun)