Environmental rules must be obeyed: Official
JAKARTA (JP): An official and a councilor said that city officers should step up supervision over industries' compliance to environmental rules.
Although factories may be operating in industrial areas, this does not give the industries the right to pollute the environment, they said in separate interviews yesterday.
"Coordination needs to be improved between the industrial offices, the city agency in charge of development control, the office of urban environmental research and others," Aboejoewono, the head of the city's environmental office said.
All related offices, such as the city office of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, should review industrial compliance to environmental requirements, he said.
He and Bandjar Marpaung, who chairs Commission D for development affairs, were responding to problems raised by industries in dense residential areas.
A briefcase manufacturing factory in Kapuk, Cengkareng in West Jakarta suffered broken windows and a damaged car during a riot last Thursday. Residents initially identified strong smells as the fumes that allegedly caused the death of a woman living behind the factory last month.
Local residents and the subdistrict head later discovered a nearby plastic factory as the actual source of the smell.
Police have not revealed their findings on the incident involving the briefcase factory, PT Continental Panji Pratama.
Aboejoewono said he was "not sure" whether all factory owners understand environmental requirements, such as installing waste water treatment facilities before flowing their waste into rivers.
Councilor Bandjar Marpaung, who chairs Commission D for development, said residential buildings in Kapuk are likely without permits.
Similar to Pulogadung in East Jakarta and Marunda in North Jakarta, Kapuk in Cengkareng has been designated as an industrial and warehouse area in the city's 1985-2005 spatial plans.
"These sites allow light industries in Jakarta, which means their waste is not harmful," Bandjar said.
Industries known to produce toxic waste must move to industrial sites outside the city such as Cikarang, east of here.
However, the sites for light industries were not free of residents at the time they were designated as industrial areas, Bandjar said.
"As the municipality slowly tries to put the spatial plans in order, there will be many problems," Bandjar said. This is because residents in industrial sites, especially the poor, cannot be expected to immediately move out, he added.
The least that can be done now is constant supervision by authorities, including subdistrict heads, of what processes and substances are involved in factories, to prevent harm to residents and the environment.
"Local authorities must be familiar with the condition of each factory in their jurisdiction," Bandjar said.
Bandjar also lashed out at the authorities' poor record of supervision, which has led to residential sites in industrial areas.
Johan Iskandar, the director of PT Continental, told The Jakarta Post Saturday that if the city clearly indicates that Kapuk should become a residential area, he would move out.
He was responding to how he would deal with further problems from residents, who settled in the area long after the plant started operating in the early 1970s. (anr)