Dumps stay open amid protests

Dumps stay open amid protests

M. Taufiqurrahman and Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta/Bogor

Mounting opposition from residents over environmental damage has
not deterred the city from going ahead with the Cilincing and
Bojong dumps in North Jakarta and Bogor.

At the Cilincing dump, seepage from a huge pile of garbage has
killed thousands of fish and shrimps in nearby fish farms. At the
dump, excavators continue to move the capital's daily waste which
is still being deposited by dump trucks.

"The administration has turned a blind eye to our problem.
There is no sign that they will stop operating," Salim, a fish
farm owner, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

"Pak (Selamat) Limbong (head of the city sanitation agency)
had promised many times to see our ravaged fish farms -- but he's
never shown up."

Another fish farmer, Asmawi -- one of 24 farmers demanding the
city pay total compensation of Rp 340 million (US$40,476) for
polluting their fish ponds -- urged the administration to take
more action. Building a concrete wall to separate the dump and
the fish and rice farms was not enough, he said.

Workers from the city public works agency are planting
concrete blocks in a wall around the Cilincing dump to prevent
waste from polluting fish farms. However, Asmawi did not believe
the blocks would contain a liquid runoff.

"If it's impossible for the administration to close down the
dump, maybe it could construct a water canal that could drain
liquid waste into a nearby river," he said.

Governor Sutiyoso had promised to close the Cilincing dump,
following the reopening of the Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi.
However, Limbong appeared to contradict him, saying the city was
preparing new high-tech waste treatment plants in the city,
including Cilincing.

Jakarta also continues to use the Bojong dump despite strong
protests from locals, who say the dump is polluting their
environment.

"The dump is situated right in the center of our neighborhood.
No matter how sophisticated its waste-processing technology is,
it will still spread diseases to locals," Isah, a resident, told
the Post.

During a trial recently, the bale-press processing machine
could only process nonorganic waste, she said.

"As for the organic waste, they just dump it at the site. It
causes pollution while the liquid waste seeps through everywhere.
I can't imagine what will happen if 100 trucks come here every
day," she said.

The dump has been guarded by 15 security guards and Bogor
Police officers to anticipate possible protests from locals.

"The residents here understand our explanation about the
project but they are often provoked by people from nearby
estates," said Umar S, a security guard at the dump.

Dump operator PT Wira Guna Sejahtera director Sofyan Hadi
Wijaya said that the dump would be ready for operation by the end
of the month.

"Our machine is still working well -- even after a tree branch
got stuck in it," he said, referring to the Rp 4 billion bale
press. "We should have sorted the waste first."