Firm to be closed for polluting river

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)