Jakarta fails to treat garbage properly

BEKASI: A councillor from the Bekasi mayoralty criticized the Jakarta administration on Tuesday for its failure to properly treat its garbage which is disposed at Bantar Gebang, Bekasi.

Nurul Yakin Setiabudi from the National Mandate Party (PAN) accused the city administration of being unprofessional in the waste management, which caused environmental pollution in the area.

"The city administration should be able to manage the garbage professionally and not cause pollution impacts as complained by the residents," he said.

The area was polluted as the city administration failed to fulfill its promise to manage the garbage under the sanitary landfill system properly, he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Jakarta disposes most of its 25,000 cubic meters of garbage in the 104-hectare Bantar Gebang dump. However, last December, Bekasi closed down the site due to environmental damage. The decision had caused panic to City Governor Sutiyoso as Jakarta did not have any proper system to treat the garbage.

Meanwhile the Bekasi mayoralty administration is exploring a cooperation with the Central Application Solar Energy (CASE), a company owned by the Australian government, to treat the garbage at the Bantar Gebang dump.--JP