Jakarta to sue Bekasi if Bantar Gebang dump is closed
Jakarta to sue Bekasi if Bantar Gebang dump is closed
Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration will take legal action should the
Bekasi municipal administration proceed with the closure of a
dump used by Jakarta and located at Bantar Gebang, Bekasi,
Jakarta's Governor Sutiyoso said on Thursday.
However, this would be the last resort, Sutiyoso said, and
negotiations on the Bantar Gebang dispute were still ongoing.
On Wednesday, Bekasi legislative assembly speaker Ismail
Ibrahim said that further negotiations were unnecessary as the
assembly would soon issue a recommendation to Bekasi Mayor Nonon
Sonthanie that the dump be closed prior to the previously agreed
closure date in 2003.
The Bekasi municipality has been demanding that the Jakarta
administration appoint a private company to properly treat the
waste, set up an independent team to evaluate the work, and hand
over 50 hectares of the 104-hectare dump to Bekasi. Otherwise,
the municipality has threatened to close down the site by the end
of the year due to the environmental damage it has caused.
Jakarta agreed to set up an independent team for the
evaluation and appointed a private company, reportedly from
Australia, to manage the dump, but has refused to hand over 50
hectares of the land.
Sutiyoso said that the Bekasi administration should not make
hasty decisions that would only create new problems.
"We will take legal action against them because Bekasi and the
Jakarta administration signed a legally binding contract. They
cannot act unilaterally like this," Sutiyoso told reporters on
the sidelines of a ceremony marking the signing of a memorandum
of understanding between the city administration and PT Bio
Fertilizer Indonesia (BFI).
Under the proposed agreement, PT Bio Fertilizer Indonesia will
handle 220 tons per day of city garbage delivered by the Jakarta
Sanitation Department.
Organic waste will be converted into fertilizer, while non-
organic waste will be separated so as to be sold later to
industrial users.
Jakarta produces 6,250 tons, or 25,000 cubic meters, of
garbage daily, but 20 percent of it is not collected by the city,
and most of this ends up being thrown into rivers, thus causing
further environmental damage.
"The first plant will be established as a pilot project, and
we then plan to build nine other units in the Jakarta area," said
Wiradidjaja, the president director of PT BFI.
The project will cost US$5 million.
Over the next nine months, BFI is expected to complete its
processing plant, located on city land in Duri Kosambi, West
Jakarta, and is expected to begin operations shortly thereafter.
Garbage disposal remains a major problem as the city
administration frequently claims it lacks the money needed to
tackle the matter effectively. Ironically though, in the last
city budget funds originally allocated for the procurement of
garbage trucks were diverted to purchase official cars for city
councillors.
The City Sanitary Agency has allocated Rp 90 billion in
handling garbage for this year,
Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration will take legal action should the
Bekasi municipal administration proceed with the closure of a
dump used by Jakarta and located at Bantar Gebang, Bekasi,
Jakarta's Governor Sutiyoso said on Thursday.
However, this would be the last resort, Sutiyoso said, and
negotiations on the Bantar Gebang dispute were still ongoing.
On Wednesday, Bekasi legislative assembly speaker Ismail
Ibrahim said that further negotiations were unnecessary as the
assembly would soon issue a recommendation to Bekasi Mayor Nonon
Sonthanie that the dump be closed prior to the previously agreed
closure date in 2003.
The Bekasi municipality has been demanding that the Jakarta
administration appoint a private company to properly treat the
waste, set up an independent team to evaluate the work, and hand
over 50 hectares of the 104-hectare dump to Bekasi. Otherwise,
the municipality has threatened to close down the site by the end
of the year due to the environmental damage it has caused.
Jakarta agreed to set up an independent team for the
evaluation and appointed a private company, reportedly from
Australia, to manage the dump, but has refused to hand over 50
hectares of the land.
Sutiyoso said that the Bekasi administration should not make
hasty decisions that would only create new problems.
"We will take legal action against them because Bekasi and the
Jakarta administration signed a legally binding contract. They
cannot act unilaterally like this," Sutiyoso told reporters on
the sidelines of a ceremony marking the signing of a memorandum
of understanding between the city administration and PT Bio
Fertilizer Indonesia (BFI).
Under the proposed agreement, PT Bio Fertilizer Indonesia will
handle 220 tons per day of city garbage delivered by the Jakarta
Sanitation Department.
Organic waste will be converted into fertilizer, while non-
organic waste will be separated so as to be sold later to
industrial users.
Jakarta produces 6,250 tons, or 25,000 cubic meters, of
garbage daily, but 20 percent of it is not collected by the city,
and most of this ends up being thrown into rivers, thus causing
further environmental damage.
"The first plant will be established as a pilot project, and
we then plan to build nine other units in the Jakarta area," said
Wiradidjaja, the president director of PT BFI.
The project will cost US$5 million.
Over the next nine months, BFI is expected to complete its
processing plant, located on city land in Duri Kosambi, West
Jakarta, and is expected to begin operations shortly thereafter.
Garbage disposal remains a major problem as the city
administration frequently claims it lacks the money needed to
tackle the matter effectively. Ironically though, in the last
city budget funds originally allocated for the procurement of
garbage trucks were diverted to purchase official cars for city
councillors.
The City Sanitary Agency has allocated Rp 90 billion in
handling garbage for this year,