Greater Jakarta administrations join forces to manage waste
Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta
The seven administrations of the Greater Jakarta area signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the joint management of about 10,000 tons of garbage produced by 27 million residents of the capital and its satellite cities.
The MOU was signed on Tuesday at the Ministry of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure by representatives of the administrations of Jakarta, Bogor municipality, Bogor regency, Depok municipality, Bekasi municipality, Tangerang municipality and Tangerang regency.
The ministry's Director General of Urban and Village Affairs, Patana Rante Toding, said that during the initial stage, the seven administrations would establish a joint secretariat tasked with working out details of their cooperation.
He said the administrations were expected to establish a joint management or firm to manage all waste produced by Greater Jakarta.
"The form of cooperation is up to the joint secretariat, whose members will consist of two representatives from each administration," he said after the signing.
The effort is being sponsored by the World Bank via the Greater Jakarta Waste Management Corporation (JWMC), which falls under the Western Java Environment Management Program (WJEMP).
JWMC team leader Jim Straker said the organization allocated US$1.5 million for establishing the joint-administrative cooperation: $1 million for consultation and facilitation, $300,000 for a landfill and composting pilot project in Depok and $200,000 for financing the joint secretariat.
The WJEMP's Central Program Support Unit head, Noeradhi Iskandar, said the fund was drawn from the $20 million in World Bank loans and grants disbursed for WJEMP projects.
He said the Depok pilot project aimed to improve the poor image of the landfill system.
"The landfill is actually a good waste management system if it is implemented properly. It has a bad image because of the improper implementation of the system at Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi," Noeradhi told The Jakarta Post.
Patana said the joint secretariat and the JWMC would facilitate a more concrete cooperation through the development of regulations, organizational structure, human resources and operational procedure, as well as short- and long-term goals.
Bogor regental administration secretary Yuyun Muslihat said the MOU indicated an awareness among the Greater Jakarta administrations of the necessity to join forces over the waste issue.
"We hope all parties will find the best solution to overcome the waste problem," he said, and that Bogor would be willing to open a dump if the system was environmentally friendly.
Head of the Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bappeda) Achmad Haryadi said the capital welcomed the readiness of the six other administrations to work together in managing waste.
Jakarta, which produces some 6,000 tons of daily waste, has been facing growing waste issues in recent years because it relied on Bekasi for its dumps and had been negligent in their management, which was the responsibility of the capital.