Council urged to back truck plan

JAKARTA: The Jakarta Sanitation Agency has asked the City Council to lend support to a proposal to provide all subdistricts across the capital with at least one modern garbage-compacting truck to ferry trash to the dump.

"We need them to replace our 600 obsolete trucks as the public are constantly compling of the putrid smell and filthy liquid waste that leaks from the trucks on their way to the dump," the agency's head, Rama Boedhi, said during a hearing with the City Council's development commission on Wednesday.

According to Rama, Chinese trucks that met the requirements were available for Rp 1.2 billion each -- much cheaper than similar Japanese-made trucks, which could cost up to Rp 3 billion each. -- JP