Dump trucks back in service

BEKASI: Two hundred dump trucks resumed service on Thursday after a one-day break from transporting garbage from Jakarta to Bantar Gebang dump.

"The financial matter between dump operator PT Patriot Bekasi Bangkit and the operators of the trucks has been settled," Deco, a city official assigned to investigate the incident said on Thursday.

The drivers said that their operators, PT Godang and PT Bonita, were yet to receive payment for the rent of the heavyweight vehicles, including bulldozer, excavators and load trucks.

PT Bonita director M. Simarmata told The Jakarta Post that PT Patriot had promised to pay Rp 1 billion (US$112,359), or one fourth of the latter's debt. "They gave us only a check that bounced," he said.

An executive of PT Godang said that PT Patriot owed them Rp 1.5 billion.

PT Patriot director Arief Ismail denied the suggestion that the halt on Wednesday was caused by the unpaid debt. "They didn't operate because the trucks were running out of diesel fuel,"he said. -- JP