No money for super dump in 2004 city budget

Bambang Nurbianto and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Although the city administration has repeatedly said the capital would be provided with high technology treatment facilities for solid waste as recommended by most experts, no funds for the construction of such facilities have been allocated in this year's budget.

The chairman of the City Council's development commission, Koeswadi Soesilohardjo, said the Rp 311 billion (US$36.59 million) budget allocated to the Jakarta Sanitation Agency this year would cover only its operating costs.

"We told officials from the agency that we needed the hi-tech treatment facilities during a hearing with the agency before the city budget was drafted, but they didn't seem to think it was important," Koeswadi told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Instead, the agency at the time preferred to lobby the Bekasi municipal administration to permit Jakarta to keep using the Bantar Gebang dump, where a sanitary landfill system is applied.

Koeswadi advised the city administration to change its stance on the treatment of the 6,000 tons of waste the capital produces every day "as this will not only stop us depending on Bekasi, but also change garbage from being a problem into a source of profit".

He was referring to the practice in various developed countries, such as Japan, Canada and Germany, which convert solid waste into valuable solid and liquid fertilizers, as well as building materials.

Separately on Saturday, city spokesman Muhayat said the administration was in no hurry to start using the Bantar Gebang dump again after the Bekasi administration abruptly changed its mind on closing it.

Playing down the waste crisis, he said the administration wanted investors to provide the hi-tech facilities.

"These investors will build the facilities for us. That's why we are not including any allocation in the 2004 budget to finance the building of high-tech treatment facilities," he asserted.

The invitation to investors has been bandied around for the past two years, but, so far, only one company has responded with the installation of bale press machines at Bojong dump, Bogor, east of Jakarta.

The dispute between Jakarta and Bekasi became heated when the latter decided to close the dump for good but later reopened it, demanding that Jakarta pay Rp 83,500 per ton of waste dumped there. Jakarta adamantly refused.

As an alternative to the Bekasi dump, the city started using dumps in Cilincing and Rorotan, North Jakarta. Given that no treatment facilities are available at these two sites, there are widespread fears that their continued use could cause serious environmental and health problems.

On Jan. 8, Bekasi mayor Achmad Zurfaih sent a letter saying that Jakarta could use the Bantar Gebang dump again as usual, but Jakarta has yet to respond.