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."