Jakarta says Bekasi dump to be reopened

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Amid public outcry over the prolonged waste crisis in the capital, the Jakarta administration reassured residents that it would begin using the Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi later this week.

"We will reopen the dump. I don't know the exact date... But, maybe, early this week," assistant to the city secretary for development affairs, IGKG Suena, told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Sunday.

According to Suena, Jakarta and Bekasi municipality administrations had met recently in a discussion on the dump.

This time, he said, Jakarta was considering implementing high technology to treat the waste rather than the landfill system presently being used at the 104-hectare site.

"But, (the idea) is a long-term project...We (Jakarta and Bekasi) will further discuss the matter soon after the reopening of the dump," he said.

Two weeks of tension between Jakarta and Bekasi led to a waste crisis in both cities.

Irked local residents had obstructed the entrance to the dump, which is located next to Bekasi's Sumur Batu dump.

Jakarta closed the dump on Jan. 4 after rejecting Bekasi deputy mayor Mochtar Mohamad's request for Rp 85,000 (US$10) for each ton of waste Jakarta dumped. The offer annulled a joint agreement made earlier between Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso and Bekasi mayor Akhmad Zurfaih to renew the contract on the dump's usage, which had expired on Dec. 31.

The Bekasi Council demanded an explanation from the municipality administration and established a special committee of inquiry.

Jakarta set mid-January as the deadline for Bekasi to settle its internal dispute and to make a final and unanimous decision on the dump.

Indeed, as all eyes were on the dump, House of Representatives member and husband of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, Taufik Kiemas, visited those living around Bantar Gebang dump on Sunday, granting scholarships to poor children.

In the event, with plenty of paraphernalia from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) evident, Taufik distributed 21,000 notebooks with covers bearing the face of Bekasi deputy mayor, Mochtar Mohamad, who is also head of the party's branch in Bekasi.

When asked, Taufik refused to comment on the dispute between Jakarta and Bekasi, while citing that "the expert in the case is the state minister for the environment."

But Bekasi's Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) deputy head, Agung Wijaksena, questioned Taufik's visit. "Did he make the visit in his capacity as public official or politician?" he remarked.