Jakarta, Bekasi lock horns on Bantar Gebang dump
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Talks between Jakarta and Bekasi authorities on the future of the city's Bantar Gebang garbage dump in Bekasi have ended in deadlock, with the Bekasi mayor insisting on closing the dump by the end of the year.
"As we have now reached a stalemate, I will ask the Minister of Home Affairs to help solve the problem," Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said on Tuesday.
He said that he had planned to meet the minister, Hari Sabarno, earlier in the day, but had to drop the plan as the minister had left for the troubled Poso region in Central Sulawesi.
"I'll probably meet him tomorrow," Sutiyoso told reporters at the City Hall.
Mayor Nonon Sonthanie decided to close the Bantar Gebang site, which has been used by Jakarta since 1986, due to the environmental damage it has caused. The decision was based on the recommendation of the Bekasi Council.
Sutiyoso insisted that the dump should not be closed until 2003 as stated in an earlier agreement. He even threatened to bring the case to court if the Bekasi administration failed to change its mind.
But Bekasi is adamant that the dump must be closed.
The conflict over the site worsened after two garbage trucks belonging to the Jakarta administration were set alight by Bekasi residents upset at seeing the trucks' drivers dumping garbage in a street near the dump site, something Jakarta has denied. This most recent incident occurred just last week.
If Bantar Gebang is closed down, what will Jakarta do with the 25,000 cubic meters of household garbage produced by its residents? Would it be like Surabaya, East Jakarta, where garbage was seen scattered on the road for several days after locals closed a local dump recently?
"Jakarta residents should not worry about it. We have anticipated it," Sutiyoso said.
The dispute in fact opens an opportunity to create new projects. With about Rp 90 billion allocated to garbage disposal this year, the city administration has made a number of plans.
After the Tangerang administration rejected the city's plan to open a dump site in Ciangir, Tangerang, the Jakarta administration is now preparing two sites in the Srengseng and Cengkareng areas of West Jakarta. Each of them, however, only measures five hectares, while Bantar Gebang covers an area of 104 hectares.
City Sanitary Agency spokesperson Saksono Soehodo said the two dumps could accommodate the city's garbage for just six months, and then only if the locals did not protest against the use of the sites as garbage dumps.
The city is also considering renting two private dumps, one in North Jakarta and the other in Bogor, each measuring 40 hectares.
Another plan is to add 18 more incinerators to the current five, and to speed up the city's cooperation with PT Bio fertilizer Indonesia, which would begin converting trash into organic fertilizer next year.