Dump operator vows better management

BEKASI: The new operator of Jakarta's main waste treatment facility in Bantar Gebang, Bekasi, PT Patriot Bekasi Bangkit (PBB) told the Bekasi Council's Commission B on oversees economic affairs that it would gradually reform the waste treatment system.

PBB director Bagus Indra said that the infrastructure, which was handed to the company by the Jakarta administration on July 16, 2004, was already in poor condition and the liquid waste processing system, drainage zone and cover soil system were not working.

Local residents protested the presence of the facility, which they claim has polluted the air and groundwater the past several years, causing them to suffer from many diseases.

In the hearing on Friday evening, councillor Muhamad Hasyim Efendy said that they would continue monitoring the management of the dump. "The management company must take the environment into account," he said. -- JP