Cleaning services to be disciplined

JAKARTA (JP): West Jakarta Mayor Sutardjianto has threatened to take stern measures against private-owned cleaning service companies which are found guilty of violating project contracts.

Sutardjianto said that the mayoralty has entrusted the work along mayoralty streets to four cleaning service companies.

Contracts for the ten-month works, involving a city budget of about Rp 2.7 billion (US$1.23 million), have been signed by representatives of the companies and the mayoralty office, he said.

In its development, however, not all the four companies work in line with the contracts, he said, adding that one of them employs only a limited number of workers to sweep the streets, thereby leaving many streets dirty and devoid of sanitation personnel.

"The four companies can only collect a total of 1,300 cubic- meters of garbage per day, far below the volume of 5,000 cubic meters that piles up in the mayoralty every day," Sutardjianto said to Antara on Tuesday.

Without disclosing when the contracts of the four firms would expire, Sutardjianto said that his mayoralty plans to summon officers of the mayoralty's sanitation office and owners of the four cleaning service companies to discuss their works.

The meeting with them will also be used to consider the possibility of reviewing the ability, weakness and competency in maintaining cleanliness in the area, he said.

The mayor also urged officers of district and sub-district offices as well as local citizens to take part in maintaining cleanliness in their neighborhoods.

Sutardjianto also said that the city administration has allocated Rp 324 million to rehabilitate four state-owned elementary school buildings in Krukut, Tambora district.

He said that the city administration approved only those funds, even though the West Java mayoralty asked for more in order to renovate other school buildings. (yns)