Five E. Java firms on pollution blacklist: Minister

ID Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya

Five private companies in East Java have been included on the environment office's blacklist of polluters, State Minister of the Environment Rachmat Nadi Witoelar Kartaadipoetra said on Wednesday.

"There are 42 companies listed as polluters, but eight of them are blacklisted and I want action taken against them," Rachmat said in Surabaya on Wednesday.

According to environment ministry data, of the eight blacklisted companies, three are state-owned companies -- paper producer PT Kertas Padalarang and sugar factory Jati Tujuh, both in West Java; and paper producer PT Kertas Blabat in Central Java.

The five blacklisted private companies in East Java are PT Surabaya Industri Estate Rungkut (SIER) in Surabaya; PT Pasuruan Industri Estate Rembang (PIER) in Pasuruan; PT Hanil Jaya Metal Baja in Sidoardjo; PT Ispatindo in Sidoarjo; and PT Jatim Taman Steel in Sidoardjo.

Rachmat said the state minister's office has sent letters to State Minister of State Enterprises Sugiharto and governors across the country to take action against polluters.

"If they (the state-owned companies) ignore it, the companies' directors will be replaced," he insisted.

For the five private companies in East Java, he urged strict sanctions to be imposed on them by the East Java provincial administration.

"The provincial administration, which gave them operational permits, could revoke these permits if they (the companies) keep polluting the environment," said Gempur Adnan, deputy minister of the environment.

Head of PT SIER and PT PIER's general affairs division, Wiji Sudarmi, denied the minister's statement.

"We disagree with the accusation. In fact, our companies are regularly cited as being models of good waste management...," she told The Jakarta Post.

She said that when visiting representatives from foreign companies came to Surabaya, they would ask to visit PT SIER and PT PIER to learn of the companies' waste management processes.

"How can companies that are regularly cited as role models become polluters?" she asked.

Representatives from the other companies were not available for comment.

Rachmat said his office regularly found problems in taking action against polluters.

"When the state minister of environment wants to take strict action, other offices do not even move... it's hard," he said.

His office, he said, had proposed that the President formulate better regulations to ensure the office's position. "If such regulation is there, we can exert much pressure," Rachmat said.

He cited the cases of toxic waste being dumped in the country as an example. Such waste, he added, could only be treated at the Cileungsi dumping site in Bogor, West Java. But limited space and facilities made it impossible for the dumping site to treat all toxic waste from across the country.

"The state minister of environment can't directly order the expansion of Cileungsi dumping site, or the building of similar sites in other provinces," Rachmat said.

However, he added, his office has worked together with Bank Indonesia so that proven polluters of the environment are not provided with loans.

"We've handed the polluters' data to the bank, and the bank distributes it to its branches across the country. So if any of these companies ask for loan, it won't be approved by the bank," he said.