Depok, Tangerang named 'dirtiest' cities
Depok, Tangerang named 'dirtiest' cities
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The government announced a list of the country's dirtiest cities
for the first time on Friday in a bid to encourage municipal
administrations to clean up their acts, and their heavily
polluted urban areas.
Previous governments had only made the names of the cleanest
cities public.
Depok and Tangerang -- both in West Java -- and the South
Sumatra capital of Palembang were named the dirtiest metropolitan
cities in the archipelago, while Bandarlampung in Lampung, Batam
in Riau Islands, and Bogor -- also in West Java, were listed as
the most polluted "big cities".
The list was announced by the State Ministry of Environment
prior to the national Adipura environmental award ceremony on
Friday evening.
Deputy to the State Minister of Environment for pollution
control Gempur Adnan said the move was to encourage regional
administrations and residents to clean up their cities and make
them green and livable.
The exposure was also intended as a warning to local
administrations. However, the government had no plan to penalize
the dirtiest cities.
"Clean and green cities. That's what we want in Indonesia,"
Gempur said.
The dirtiest cities were selected from 365 of 440 regencies
and municipalities across Indonesia. Those that were not
environmentally examined were generally isolated and had few
inhabitants.
During the Friday evening ceremony, the government presented
the Adipura awards to the four cleanest cities listed for 2005 --
Pekanbaru, Central Jakarta, Jepara and Bangli.
Guntur said the environmental ministry was also monitoring the
top eight cities already nominated as the cleanest cities for
2006. The eight nominees are Padang, Arga Makmur, Semarang,
Lumajang, Bangli, Tabanan, Gorontalo and Kolaka.
"The nominees will be awarded the Adipura award next year if
they continue to perform well," he said.
The ministry also awarded 23 companies that had complied with
regulations to prevent water and air pollution and manage toxic
waste.
Among the winners were Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper, Astra
Daihatsu Motors, Toyota Motor Manufacturers, Pertamina, Medco
Energy and Newmont Nusa Tenggara. The ministry has taken Newmont
Minahasa Raya to court over claims that it polluted Buyat Bay in
Central Sulawesi with mine tailings.
Ministry deputy for toxic waste management Yanuardi Rasudin,
said his office has decided to sue only five companies for
failing to comply with pollution regulations.
The five were Naintex in Bandung, Kertas Bekasi Teguh in
Bekasi, Kertas Blabag in Magelang, Jatim Taman Steel MFG in
Sidoarjo, and Inti General Jaya Steel in Semarang.
Yanuardi said these firms had been environmentally blacklisted
for two consecutive years.
"They were already given time to improve their environmental
performance, but failed to do so. Therefore, we will soon sue
them for polluting the country," he said.
State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar had
earlier said he would file lawsuits against the blacklisted
companies by the end of this year.
According to data from Rachmat's office, there were at least
72 private and state-owned companies on the blacklist.