Locals rebuff plan for proposed dump

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)