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)