Marunda dump plan to go ahead
Marunda dump plan to go ahead
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration has continued with its plan to open a
new garbage dump in the Marunda area, North Jakarta, despite
protests by local residents on the possible environmental impact.
Governor Sutiyoso signed on Monday a memorandum of
understanding with chairman of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog)
Widjanarko Puspoyo to use the agency's land as a garbage dump.
"The Marunda plot of land is an alternative site, should
Bantar Gebang close again," Sutiyoso told reporters after the
meeting at City Hall.
Bekasi mayoralty closed Bantar Gebang dump on Dec. 10, but
then decided to reopen it for one month, after a week of talks
that involved the Ministry of Home Affairs and the House of
Representatives, pending measures to be taken by the Jakarta
administration to fulfill their agreement.
Jakarta agreed to pay compensation, which included finalizing
the construction of a hospital and a clean water pipeline in
Bantar Gebang worth Rp 29 billion (US$2.9 million) for the
reopening of the dump.
The city administration began the project at the beginning of
2001 and it should be completed by the end of this month if it
wishes to fulfill its agreement and see Bekasi reopen the dump
until it's contract expires in 2003.
But last month, city spokesman Muhayat threw cold water over
expectations that it could fulfill the conditions, saying that
they would probably face financial difficulties if the conditions
were materialized.
Besides the 71-hectare Marunda plot, the city administration
is also preparing a 40-hectare plot in Tegal Alur, West Jakarta
as another alternative dump.
Sutiyoso called on local residents to accept the
administration's plan to open the dump in Marunda, promising to
minimize the environmental impact.
He said the site in Marunda would use a sanitary landfill
system similar to Bantar Gebang dump but with a tight control on
its usage.
However, as has been noticed at Bantar Gebang dump, the city
administration has never applied the system seriously.
About two hours before the signing ceremony, hundreds of
Marunda residents visited City Hall, protesting the plan to open
the dump in their area.
Arriving in 10 buses, the residents said the plan could cause
environmental damage and disease.
"We firmly reject the plan. We don't want to be the second
'Bantar Gebang'," the residents' spokesman, Taufik, said, in a
meeting with Deputy Governor for Administrative Affairs Abdul
Kahfi.
They said that they could not accept that the Marunda location
would be able to accommodate the city's garbage, which amounts to
25,000 cubic meters per day.
However, Kahfi replied that not all the city's trash would be
dumped in Marunda, but some of it would be distributed to other
smaller dumps across the city's five mayoralties.
The administration earlier revealed seven land plots as
garbage dumps in the mayoralties but none of them were deemed
ready to accommodate the garbage.
The site in Marunda once belonged to PT Goro Batara Sakti, a
company owned by former president Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo
"Tommy" Mandala Putra.
The land was exchanged with Bulog's land in Kelapa Gading,
North Jakarta. Tommy was sentenced to 18 months in jail for
corruption in the land exchange deal two years ago.