Garbage piles in C. Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Central Jakarta mayoralty is facing a shortage of refuse collection trucks, leaving up to 2,700 cubic metres of refuse on the city's streets each month, an official has said.

M. Yanis, the mayoralty's spokesman, said early this week that about 5,200 cubic metres of waste was produced by the district each month.

He explained that the mayoralty's sanitation office owned 234 trucks, of which only 150 were operational. The remainder of the fleet are defunct.

"The largest producers of waste are business centers, markets and shopping centers, which account for 40 percent of refuse collected," Yanis was quoted by Antara as saying.

In order to help cope with the huge piles of refuse, Yanis said the mayoralty is operating three incinerators located near the mayoralty's sanitation offices in Kemayoran and on Jl. Layang Lindung.

"This equipment can reduce the volume of refuse by up to 90 percent," he said, adding that the number of incinerators will be increased to 10 during the current 1998/99 fiscal year. (hhr)