New waste treatment center in West Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration has another waste treatment center in Duri Kosambi, West Jakarta, to treat waste from septic tanks in West and South Jakarta as well as several parts of North and Central Jakarta.

Deputy Governor for Economic and Development Affairs Tb. M. Rais yesterday officially inaugurated the operation of the new facility, which has a capacity of treating 300 cubic meters of waste per day.

Rais said that the new facility can help the city administration deal with the processing of human waste to improve the city's sanitation condition.

"The new facility is expected to improve our ability to deal with liquid waste in the city because it raises the total processing capacity in the city to 660 cubic meters per day," Rais said.

The other facilities are located in Pulo Gebang, East Jakarta, with a capacity of 300 cubic meters per day and in Kebon Nanas also in East Jakarta with 60 cubic meters, he said.

"The three treatment centers' capacity is sufficient to process liquid waste in the city until the year 2005, when the city's population is predicted to increase from about nine million now to 11.9 million," he said.

Meanwhile, Head of the City Sanitation Office M. Subasir said that the city administration spent about Rp 9 billion (US$4.09 million) to build the new facility on a 10-hectare plot of land in six stages since the 1987/1988 fiscal year.

Subasir explained that after being processed at the centers, waste from septic tanks in residential areas or other buildings is dumped into the Angke river.

Subasir said that his office is currently operating 33 big tank trucks, four medium tank trucks and 79 other small trucks to transport the waste from all over the city to the three centers.

He explained that ideally the city should build an integrated pipeline system to carry sewerage from each house in the city to the treatment centers.

However, he added, this kind of system is very expensive. (yns)