Four sites identified to replace Bantar Gebang

Four sites identified to replace Bantar Gebang

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Some days ahead of the closure of the rubbish dump in Bantar
Gebang, the City Administration claimed on Thursday to have
secured four alternative sites.

"The four locations can accommodate city garbage for more than
two years," Governor Sutiyoso said here on Thursday.

The four sites are a 65-hectare plot in Tegal Alur and a six-
hectare plot in Kapuk, both in West Jakarta; a five-hectare
former dump site in Cacing (Cakung Cilincing) area in North
Jakarta and an eight-hectare former dump site in Pulo Gebang,
East Jakarta.

The four locations will replace the garbage dump site in
Bantar Gebang, which will be closed by the Bekasi municipality on
Monday.

Bekasi has previously said that it would close the Bantar
Gebang dump site because the city administration was unable to
handle environmental concerns.

But actually the problem is because the city administration
refused to hand over 50 percent of the 104-hectare dump site to
the Bekasi municipality. Sutiyoso said last month that he would
not meet the demands.

The city administration has previously listed the former dump
sites in Srengseng and Muara Kamal, both in West Jakarta, and
Jonggol in Bogor as alternatives to the Bantar Gebang site.

But the sites in Srengseng and Muara Kamal were not named to
avoid protests from local residents.

The use of the four locations might be hindered by local
residents' protests since the city administration would use an
open dumping system.

City Sanitary Agency head Saksono Soehodo said negotiations to
use a privately-owned 40-hectare plot in Jonggol was still
underway with the owners, PT Wira Golfindo.

If an agreement could be signed by this year, the private dump
site could be used to accommodate the city's garbage -- more than
25,000 cubic meters or 6,000 tons a day -- for five years,
starting in April.

The administration will only pay an annual rental fee of about
Rp 30 billion while the private firm will handle permits from the
Bogor regency.

"The private dump has been offered a year ago. It's a chance
for private businessmen to handle garbage processing," Saksono
said, refusing to mention the businessman's name.

Saksono, who retires in April, also denied that he would
become a commissioner of the private firm which would use huge
incinerators and a sanitary land fill system to deal with the
garbage.

Separately, the regency council deputy chairman Albert Pribadi
seemed shocked about the planned dump site, saying that the plan
would be rejected by the council.

"We haven't been told yet. It would be rejected by our
residents," Albert told The Jakarta Post.

Besides PT Wira Golfindo, three other private companies which
claimed to use advanced technology are expected to operate here
in 2003.

The three firms are PT Bio Fertilizer Indonesia (BFI) in West
Jakarta, PT Inter Indo Global in East Jakarta and PT Putra Bakti
Mahkota in North Jakarta.

PT BFI plans to build its plant in Duri Kosambi which could
process 1,800 tons of garbage a day while PT Putra Bakti proposed
to process 2000 tons of garbage a day in its plant in Marunda,
North Jakarta.

The city administration allocated Rp 90 billion for the
handling of garbage this year; Rp 11 billion for maintenance;
Rp 66 billion for the purchase of trucks and excavators and other
heavy equipment. Last year's budget for the garbage handling was
Rp 43 billion.