Jakarta to start dumping in Bojong mid February
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta administration plans to open the Bojong dump in Bogor regency by mid February, a month behind the planned schedule, amid strong opposition from locals who fear possible health problems and environmental damage.
Assistant to the city secretary for development affairs, IGKG Suena, said on Monday that Jakarta had almost completed the necessary infrastructure for the dump. The garbage processing facility, using the ball press German technology, and electricity have been installed at the site.
Dump operator PT Wira Gulfindo Sarana, which was appointed by the Jakarta administration, has invested Rp 85 billion (US$10 million) in garbage-processing technology.
Although the company plans to use the technology to minimize environmental damage, locals are not convinced. More than 1,000 local residents staged a protest on Sunday as the dump geared up for operation.
Jakarta, however, asserts that locals protests will not obstruct its plan.
"Let the Bogor regency administration handle the protests. Why should we take care of that?" said Suena.
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso claimed that his administration had discussed the plan with the Bogor regency administration.
"There is no opposition from the locals as the dump will implement a hi-tech system adopted from Germany. There will be no stench after the garbage is processed," he claimed.
The Bogor regency administration gave the green light on Dec. 22 to use the area for dumping Jakarta's 6,000 tons of daily waste, as only up to 2,000 tons can be accommodated at the Bojong dump.
Sutiyoso had said that a fish pond would be set up at the site to indicate that the processed water from the distilled waste was safe.
The use of Bojong dump will reduce the capital's dependency on the 104-hectare Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi municipality.
Suena admitted that the capital would still use the Bantar Gebang dump.
Bekasi Mayor Akhmad Zurfaih sent a letter to Sutiyoso last Friday, saying that his administration agreed to allow Jakarta to dump its trash in Bantar Gebang as stated in the joint agreement between the administrations of Jakarta and Bekasi on Dec. 22.
Jakarta closed the dump on Jan. 4 in rejection of Bekasi's demand that Jakarta pays Rp 85,000 (US$10) for each ton of waste dumped.
The week-long closure has put both Jakarta and Bekasi in crisis. For the time being, Jakarta is dumping its waste in swampy land in Cilincing subdistrict and on open land in Rorotan subdistrict, all in North Jakarta.