Councillors kick up a dtink over Bekasi dump operation
Councillors kick up a dtink over Bekasi dump operation
Damar Harsanto and Wahyuana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Bekasi
Residents' complaints over the presence of Jakarta's dump Bantar
Gebang in Bekasi are getting fiercer after its management was
handed over to PT Patriot Bekasi Bangkit last August, prompting
the Jakarta City Council to put more pressure on the firm.
Ciketing Udik village resident Anen Samsuddin said that the
artesian wells, health clinic and the road built by the previous
operator, the Jakarta Sanitation Agency in compensation to the
residents were broken and remain unrepaired.
"It's difficult for us to get clean water while many of us are
still suffering from respiratory problems, diarrhea and skin
diseases. Moreover, the garbage trucks block our village roads,"
he told The Jakarta Post.
In a series of impromptu visits to the dump, the councillors
found more flaws in the operation.
"I discovered that the scales in use did not function and
mounds of garbage were not covered properly with soil," said the
Sayogo Hendrosubroto, chairman of Commission D on development
affairs, during the council hearing with the City Sanitation
Agency and PT Patriot on Monday.
The company was directly appointed by the Bekasi municipal
administration and the Jakarta administration to manage the waste
disposal for a two-year term.
Commission D deputy chairman Muhayar Rustamudin added that the
company had failed to properly implement the sanitary landfill
system in the dump, such as spraying the garbage with pesticide
and establishing a treatment plant for organic waste.
"It would be advisable for us to end the contract with the
company if it fails to perform professionally," he asserted.
The councillors alleged that the waste dumped at Bantar Gebang
was actually much less than the reported 4,000 tons a day as none
of the scales that weigh the load the trucks carry were
operating, while they had also spotted some garbage trucks
dumping their load into the Cakung River and Cilincing Nagrak
swamp in North Jakarta.
Jakarta pays a tipping fee of Rp 52,500 for each ton it dumps
at Bantar Gebang dump to PT Patriot.
The Post also observed at the dump that hundreds of dump
trucks belonging to the Jakarta Sanitation Agency had to queue
for hours to unload since PT Patriot only provides six
bulldozers.
According to PT Gudang Tua and PT Bonita management from where
PT Patriot rents the bulldozers, the dump operator has not paid
the rental fee.
Meanwhile, PT Patriot director Indra Bagus Trihardjo shifted
the blame to the Jakarta administration which he said failed to
pay the tipping fees.
"Besides, we also have to deal with many problems, including
the loss of expensive property at the dump, such as 1,330
ventilation pipes and 156 spotlights when we started handling the
dump," Indra said.