Jakarta can use Bantar Geabng until end of 2003
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Disregarding its findings of water and air pollution at the Bantar Gebang garbage dump in Bekasi, West Java, an independent environmental impact team conditionally recommended on Friday that Jakarta be allowed to continue using the dump until the end of 2003.
"We find that Jakarta can continue to use the Bantar Gebang dump until next year, but first it should improve the liquid waste pipes, which have been leaking," team leader Setyo Soemanto Moersidik said on Friday at City Hall.
The team, consisting of experts from the University of Indonesia and the 1945 University of Bekasi, was set up earlier this year following a dispute between Jakarta and Bekasi municipality over use of the dump.
Speaking after presenting the team's findings, Setyo said the wells and rivers in three villages near the dump -- namely Ciketing Udik, Cikiwul and Sumur Batu -- were polluted with E. coli bacteria and sulfide and iron from the dump.
He said the water pollution was caused by liquid waste leaked from the pipes meant to transport the waste to treatment facilities near the dump.
"The water pollution is also caused by several illegal small dumps that are operated by residents around the main dump," he added.
He said his team was suggesting the Jakarta administration repair the liquid waste pipes and close the illegal dumps.
Besides the water pollution, Setyo said the team also found that the 100-hectare dump was causing air pollution in the form of smoke and a noxious odor.
"The garbage is not being completely covered by soil, as required by a sanitary landfill system. We suggest the garbage be covered by red soil to help prevent the air pollution," he said.
The Bekasi mayoralty closed the dump for a week last December because of the dump's negative environmental impact.
The closure of the dump, which receives 6,000 tons of garbage per day from Jakarta, left the city figuratively buried in piles of its own trash.
The dump was reopened after the Jakarta administration promised to tackle environmental problems at the dump and pay Rp 14 billion in compensation for the environmental damage.
However, after the agreement was reached the Bekasi municipality again threatened to close the dump because of the continuing environmental damage.
The city secretary's assistant for development affairs, Irzal Djamal, said he hoped the dump would remain open to Jakarta at least until its contract with Bekasi expired next year.
"We will repair the damage according to the team's suggestions. We hope the Bekasi municipality will agree to continue with our cooperation," Irzal said.
Bekasi councillor Chasnul Cholid, who attended the meeting to hear the environmental impact team's findings, expressed doubt that the Jakarta administration would fulfill its promise to repair the environmental damage.
"The problem is not whether we will close the dump or not. But we see many residents suffering from sicknesses because of the environmental damage," said Cholid, who is chairman of the Bekasi Council's Commission A for legal and administrative affairs.
Because of the dispute over the dump, the Jakarta administration has been working to open new dumps in the capital and to reach agreements with local and foreign investors to process the city's garbage.
Reportedly, however, two foreign investors from Canada and the United States have postponed plans to build plants capable of processing half of the city's trash because of fear of terrorist attacks following the Bali bombing.