Firms to be tried for damaging environment

Firms to be tried for damaging environment

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

The Tangerang regental administration will bring to court at
least 25 companies for allegedly discharging liquid waste into
the regency's rivers and destroying the environment.

"The companies were found secretly dumping hazardous liquid
waste into rivers," the regency environmental agency's
supervision and control division head, Cecep Suhendar, told The
Jakarta Post on Monday.

Cecep said that most of the companies had no Environmental
Impact Assessment (AMDAL) certificates and had no liquid waste
treatment plants. Although some companies had such plants, they
still dumped their liquid waste into nearby rivers.

"We will ask authorized officers from the Office of the State
Minister for the Environment to conduct an investigation into
these companies," he said.

Based on Chapter VIII article 40 of Law No. 23/1997 on the
Environment, authorized officers can be assigned to investigate
allegations of pollution or environmental damage. Such authorized
officers are obliged to report their findings to the police.

The agency said it sent warnings to the 25 companies seven
months ago but only five responded. They were aluminum profile
producer PT YKK Alumico Indonesia, textile producer PT Jayasunli
Subur Makmur, chicken processing companies PT Jaffa Osi and PT
Ciomas Adi Satwa, and chemical firm PT Silicaindo.

However, spokesmen for PT Jaffa Osi and PT Ciomas Adi Satwa
both denied the allegations that the two companies were dumping
their liquid waste into rivers, and claimed that they operated
waste treatment plants.

PT Ciomas Adi Satwa spokesman Uus told the Post on Wednesday
that his company had never received a warning from the agency.

The other three companies could not be reached for comment.

Cecep regretted the environmental damage caused by the
companies, especially as they already had waste treatment plants.
He even questioned how PT YKK Alumico Indonesia could have earned
the ISO 14000 environmental management certificate.

The director of the Public Policy Institute, Ibnu Jandi,
welcomed the regency's plan to bring the companies to court.

"Although it's late, bringing the companies to court is very
important as it will serve as shock therapy for others," Ibnu
said.

He claimed that his institute had earlier conducted a study on
32 companies that discharged their waste into the Cisadane river.
However, he refused to mention the companies' names as the final
results of the study were still awaited with the samples taken
still undergoing examination in the laboratory.

The environmental damage to Tangerang rivers, including the
Cisadane, whose waters eventually flow into the Java Sea, has
reportedly affected 200 hectares of fish and shrimp ponds on the
coast, causing the fish farmers to stop their activities.

The polluted water from the Cisadane is used by fish farmers
in the Tanjung Burung area of Teluk Naga district for their
ponds.

The fish farmers have stopped their activities since their
fish and shrimps died due to the pollution.

One of the fish farmers, Zainuddin, said that his five-hectare
pond was among those destroyed by the polluted water.

Zainuddin, who is also the head of Sukawali subdistrict, now
plans to sell his pond to the regency for the development of a
harbor.

The subdistrict head, along with local residents, who earlier
planned to conduct a rally at the regency office, decided to
postpone it after learning about the regency's plans to develop
the harbor.