Council makes a stink about septic tank deal with Malaysian firm
Council makes a stink about septic tank deal with Malaysian firm
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The City Council's commission D on development affairs has
sharply criticized city-owned sewerage company PD PAL Jaya for
entering into an agreement with Malaysian firm Pembinaan Jayabumi
(PJS) for a sewage management project without obtaining the
council's consent.
"PD PAL failed to notify us of the joint venture deal, despite
the fact that the venture will certainly have a great effect on
all Jakarta residents," the commission's deputy chairman Muhayar
Rustamuddin said in a hearing with PD PAL Jaya's board of
directors.
"What we fear is that the joint venture gives no advantage at
all in terms of sewage treatment technology, as has previously
happened with a similar sewage project in Setiabudi, South
Jakarta," said Muhayar of the Prosperous Justice Party.
The Setiabudi sewage plant that was built in 1986 by the
Ministry of Public Works in cooperation with the World Bank
failed to treat raw sewage properly, with most of it running
untreated into the West Flood Canal in front of the plant.
Similarly, commission chairman Sayogo Hendrosubroto also
questioned the reasons behind the decision to adopt Malaysian
septic tank technology and involve a Malaysian firm in such a
large scale project affecting all Jakarta residents.
"It's simply humiliating. Don't we have simple septic tank
technology here? Why do we need to import it from Malaysia, which
of course, will be much more expensive than similar technology
made by Indonesian experts?" Sayogo queried.
The Jakarta administration has decided to require that all
residents wanting to build new houses equip them with the
Malaysian designed septic tanks. It was claimed that the new
septic tanks would help curb contamination of groundwaters and
rivers with untreated waste, as currently happens using
conventional septic tank systems.
The City Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD) has said that
it was urgent that city residents install better septic tanks
given reports of high levels of Escherichia coli bacteria in all
of the city's 13 rivers.
The bacteria comes from human feces and can cause diarrheal
diseases, and has now contaminated 80 percent of shallow
groundwater wells in the city.
PD PAL Jaya and PJS have established a joint venture company,
called PT Jayabumi Utama, to manufacture 4,000 units of the tanks
for households this year.
The tanks will be sold for between Rp 4 million and Rp 5
million each, depending on size.
PAL Jaya president director Pudjo Prihadi Santoso said that
the administration would take a 20 percent equity share in the
project totaling about $1 million.