Locals rebuff plan for proposed dump

TANGERANG (JP): The community of Ciangir village of the Legok subdistrict in Tangerang has rejected the Jakarta administration's plan to move a garbage dump to their area.

"We are against the plan although it is said that the garbage dump will be using modern processing technology," Halimi, a local leader, said during a hearing on Wednesday between residents and Tangerang Mayoralty councilors on the planned dump transfer.

"Especially during the rainy season, the garbage will pollute our water, bring contagious diseases and bad odors," he said.

He also warned that the plan would pose a big threat to the income to the local residents.

"If the farmers (in Ciangir) have to give their paddy fields up for the dump site ... then what will they do for a living?" Halimi asked.

The Ciangir area has a large amount of rice fields and the Cimanceri river, whose water is used and processed by the Tangerang tap water company.

Troubled by environmental damage in Jakarta's current garbage dump in the Bantar Gebang subdistrict, Bekasi, the Tangerang administration and its city council are carefully considering the Jakarta administration's plan to move the dump site to the Ciangir area.

Reports said that about 100 hectares of land in Ciangir has been plotted by Jakarta's Sanitary Agency for the dump site, with more than 15 hectares allocated for the entrance road and connecting tracks.

"Basically we are sided with the people on this matter. We reject the plan to develop Ciangir into a dump site," councilor Cecep Mihardja who chaired the session, said.

The council will soon summon Tangerang officials and the Jakarta Sanitary Agency to elaborate on the plan for locals and related institutions.

"We don't want the future dump site polluting the Ciangir neighborhood," Cecep said.

The Tangerang administration has not made any decision on the matter. Meanwhile, the Jakarta administration will probably cancel the plan after learning that the development of a substitute garbage dump site in Ciangir was not feasible.

Governor Sutiyoso said last September that "the opening of a new garbage dump will only move the same problems from Bekasi to Tangerang".

The Jakarta administration then decided to allocate Rp 10 billion for renovations to the Bantar Gebang dump, which was designed to contain Jakarta's 23,000 cubic meters of garbage per day until 2004. (41/edt)