Corruption blamed for Surabaya's garbage woes

Corruption blamed for Surabaya's garbage woes

Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Surabaya residents and nongovernmental organizations have blamed
the city administration's mismanagement and corruption for the
accumulating garbage that has been the cause of increasing
criticism for months.

Soemarno, a resident in south Surabaya, said garbage
accumulating at temporary dumps in the city had a lot to do with
waste mismanagement and the leakage of funds collected from
residents.

"Under the leadership of Mayor Soenarto, neighborhood unit
heads have never paid attention to the collection of garbage in
their own area as the city administration stopped disbursing
funds collected through the garbage tax," he said here recently.

He added that residents have not only paid a garbage tax to
the city administration but also to their neighborhood unit.

Garbage has been accumulating in the city since residents
living at garbage dump sites blocked trucks dumping waste in the
areas. The blockade was conducted to protest the local
administration's failure to fulfill its promise to build health
centers in the areas and register residents in a health insurance
scheme.

Susianto, executive director of the local office of the
Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi), criticized the city
administration for its mismanagement of the garbage disposal
dilemma.

"The local administration has allocated Rp 1.4 billion for the
maintenance costs of the wastewater plant in the Keputih dump
site this year, but only Rp 300 million has been disbursed and
the remaining Rp 1.1 billion has been given to numerous parties
without any accountability," he said.

He said he could understand why residents had reacted by
recently dumping their household waste at the mayor's office.

According to data gathered by The Jakarta Post, the local
administration received Rp 14 billion from the garbage tax in
2000 and expected to raise Rp 15.7 billion this fiscal year.

"Of Rp 14 billion collected from the garbage tax in 2000, more
than 50 percent has leaked to numerous parties," one city
administration employee said, requesting anonymity.

The local administration has reduced its budget for waste
management to 3.5 percent of the total city budget, from 10
percent in 2000 and 8.4 percent in 1999. The city
administration's total budget has been raised to Rp 464.8 billion
this year, from Rp 425.3 billion in 2000.

The employee said a majority of funds had leaked to officials
in the local tap water company, the local health ministry office,
subdistricts and villages.

Last Sunday, a group of residents dumped their garbage at the
mayor's office and the city legislative council building to
demonstrate their dissatisfaction with garbage accumulating in
their neighborhoods and the creation of temporary dump sites in
several subdistricts around the city.

The protesters displayed a large banner reading Masyarakat
sepakat Cak Narto = sampah. Jadi harus dibuang! (People agree
Soenarto is garbage. So, he must be dumped).

Soenarto is receiving medical treatment at a hospital in
Melbourne, Australia.

Sukadar, who coordinated the protest, said the dumping of
garbage at the mayor's office and the legislature building was an
expression of the residents' disappointment with the local
administration's failure to manage the city's garbage and
diversion of the garbage tax funds.

"The city's residents are distressed because they have been
obliged to pay tax to the authorities but have also been urged to
dump their own garbage," he said.

Johan Silas, a city planning professor at the Surabaya
Institute of Technology (ITS), regretted that the city
administration had shown no vision in managing the city's
garbage, suggesting that the problem had a lot to do with the
mayor's weak leadership.

"Cak Narto should learn from his predecessor Poernomo and how
his administration cooperated with residents in managing their
garbage," he said, suggesting that the city administration should
also cooperate with more than 3,000 scavengers to help keep the
city clean.

He added that the local administration should also learn from
Singapore and how the island state managed its waste disposal.