Firm to be closed for polluting river

TANGERANG (JP): After issuing innumerable unheeded warnings the local administration is to close PT Harlipan Batik, a private firm specializing in dyeing batik cloth, on Jl. Pasar Kemis in Jatiuwung.

Mochammad Harun, head of a special team on environmental pollution prevention, said after a surprise inspection of the factory yesterday that the firm had thrown its heavily polluted wastewater into the nearby river for four years.

Its management had ignored a written warning issued recently by the local mayor, who ordered Harlipan and 77 other companies in the mayoralty to set up proper facilities to prevent them polluting the surrounding environment, said Harun.

Harlipan's president, Boaz Syiwa, admitted that his firm had no wastewater treatment facilities due to a shortage of funds.

He said he hoped the problem "could be solved ... by the officials themselves".

The factory produces 1.9 million yards of dyed batik cloth a year, and 30 cubic meters of wastewater is pumped into the river everyday. (24/bsr)