Council wants change in the status of sanitation office
Council wants change in the status of sanitation office
JAKARTA (JP): The City Council's commission C in charge of
evaluating the performance of city-controlled companies suggested
that the City Sanitation Office be turned into a profit-oriented,
government-owned limited liability company.
"Such a change in legal and operational form is necessary to
cope with the city's increasing volume of garbage,"
Sumari, the deputy chairman of the commission, quoted chairman
Helmy A.R. Syihab as saying.
Councilors from the commission visited two temporary landfills
in Tanah Abang and Pejompongan, Central Jakarta, on Thursday in
order to find out the sanitation office's capacity to manage the
city's trash.
"While on the one hand, the amount of garbage increases every
year due to Jakarta's growing population, the office's resources,
on the other hand, remain the same," Sumari said.
A change would give more room for the sanitation office to
make money on its own, removing its dependency on the city budget
to finance its programs which, in turn, will enable it to carry
out its tasks more effectively, Sumari added.
Sumari said that at present, the sanitation office can manage
to get rid of the city's mounting garbage only when it mobilizes
its entire work force and fleet of trucks and in addition hires
14 contractors.
According to Sumari, the volume of Jakarta's garbage is 23,000
cubic meters a day at present, and increases by 4 to 5 percent a
year.
Currently, the 14 contractors are operating only in the area
around the National Monument (Monas), Central Jakarta, and in
27 of the city's 265 subdistricts, Sumari said.
At present, the cleaning office has around 500 employees and
800 old trucks plus 80 newly purchased ones, Sumari said, while
ideally it should have 2,000 employees and 1,220 trucks.
To cope with the shortage, the sanitation office currently
hires 812 daily-paid laborers to deal with garbage disposal,
Sumari said.
"This suggests that the office is becoming overwhelmed,"
Sumari added.
Garbage fees
The commission also found that subdistricts are still unable
to collect all the garbage disposal fees.
Households are given receipts by the city administration
stating what they've paid. The amount, depending on the area. For
instance, in the Kayu Manis subdistrict, East Jakarta, the fee is
Rp 1,000.
According to Sumari, the subdistrict chiefs of Tanah Abang and
Pejompongan, who were also present during the legislators' visit,
said they have difficulties in collecting the fees because they
do not have comprehensive data on all the households in their
areas. Hence, they cannot keep track of households which pay and
which do not pay, Sumari said. (06)