Jakarta to sign new MoU on Bantar Gebang soon

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration is determined to continue using the Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi as it plans to sign the new memorandum of understanding on the use of the site soon.

Spokesman for the city administration Muhayat confirmed on Wednesday that the new MoU will be signed before the Jan. 31 deadline.

"Both the administration and the Bekasi mayoralty are conducting negotiations over terms of the new MoU," Muhayat told The Jakarta Post.

Muhayat, however, could not provide details as to how far the administration would comply with the new requirements demanded by the Bekasi mayoralty.

Bekasi has set Jan. 31 as the deadline for the administration to fulfill their new demands stipulated in a new MoU following the closure of Bantar Gebang dump on Dec. 10 due to environmental concerns.

Under the new terms, Bekasi mayoralty demanded the administration to provide some compensation for local residents, totaling Rp 18.5 billion.

Bekasi also required the administration to build new sports fields, mosques and streets in the Cikiwul, Udik, and Sumur Batu subdistricts of Bekasi.

It also demanded the renovation of school buildings and subdistrict offices. In addition, new computers and motorcycles for each subdistrict were also required in the new MoU.

Due to such terms, the administration had earlier accused the Bekasi municipality of blackmail, and would reconsider the continued use of the 104-hectare dump. It claimed to have prepared smaller alternative dump sites located elsewhere.

A 71-hectare site at Tegal Alur in West Jakarta and a 60- hectare site in Marunda in North Jakarta are among those that were proposed as alternatives.

Jakarta is also considering Bangka island which is situated to the east of South Sumatra, to take approximately 4,000 tons per day of the city's trash. The garbage would be used as backfill in former tin mines on the island.

But, it is growing increasingly apparent that none of those alternatives can be operational in the near future.

Mounting protests from local residents of the respective locales coupled with the fact that those sites were proven to be as yet unprepared, show that the administration has no choice but seek an extension of their contract with Bantar Gebang at least until the end of this year.

Jakarta's Environmental Impact Management Agency said earlier that environmental impact analyses at Marunda and Tegal Alur were yet to commence.