PKB Faction Demands Pramono Maximise Rorotan RDF Target
The Head of the PKB Faction in the Jakarta Provincial Parliament, M. Fuadi Luthfi, has levelled sharp criticism against Governor Pramono Anung’s statement regarding the operational performance of the Rorotan Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) Plant. Fuadi contends that the Governor’s claim that the 1,000-tonne-per-day waste processing target represents “very good” performance is actually an indirect admission of failure in managing the Rp 1.28 trillion project.
The facility, originally designed to process 2,500 tonnes of waste per day, is currently operating at approximately 40 per cent of its total capacity. The project was supposed to have reached full operational status more than a year ago.
“To use a simple analogy, if we bought a car for Rp 1.28 trillion and the car could only travel at 40 per cent of the promised speed, would that be very good? That statement is not good news. It is an admission that something is wrong, and the government has chosen to frame it as an achievement,” Fuadi said on Monday, 9 March.
Fuadi identified three interconnected layers of failure in project management. First, a failure in technical planning. RDF technology was designed to process pre-sorted and relatively dry waste, but Jakarta’s waste arriving at Rorotan remains mixed and wet. Consequently, the machinery has to work twice over, sorting as well as processing, resulting in far-from-optimal outcomes. This is a consequence of the decision to build downstream technology without establishing a sorting system upstream.
Second, a failure in contract oversight. The entire contract value of Rp 1.28 trillion has already been disbursed, yet the facility is not operating according to the promised specifications. The operator has repeatedly violated standard operating procedures, but there has been no publicly announced contractual sanction. Third, a failure in communication with residents. The community around Rorotan, as the affected population, has had no honest and proactive information mechanism from the outset as a preventive measure.
“These three failures are not coincidental. They reflect a project that was never managed seriously from the beginning. It was constructed hastily, paid in full upfront, and when problems emerged the public was asked to be patient,” he said.
Fuadi urged the public to pay attention to the figures that speak for themselves. Jakarta generates 7,400–8,000 tonnes of waste daily. With 1,000 tonnes being processed, the Rorotan RDF facility handles only about 12–13 per cent of the capital’s total waste, far short of the original target of reducing Bantargebang’s burden by 30 per cent.
Meanwhile, the investment cost per tonne of actual functioning capacity has become two and a half times higher than promised. Bantargebang, already as high as a 16-storey building with a contract expiring this year, does not have the luxury of time to wait.
“This is not about impatience. This is about the fact that we have already run out of space at Bantargebang, the contract expires this year, and the only major processing facility we have within the city is only operating at 40 per cent. Jakarta residents deserve to know: what will happen to their waste?” he emphasised.
Fuadi stressed that this situation further underscores the urgency of establishing a Special Committee in the provincial parliament to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the Rorotan RDF project.
The Special Committee, according to Fuadi, must explicitly drive a forensic audit tracing the alignment between contract specifications, technical realisation, and budget utilisation, including investigating why the Sunter ITF Waste-to-Energy Plant project, which already held National Strategic Project status, was cancelled and replaced by the Rorotan RDF without adequate explanation to the parliament or the public.
He also urged the provincial government to immediately open complete data: daily capacity realisation, volume of RDF successfully produced and delivered to Indocement, and the status of the Rp 64 billion performance bond that is suspected not to have been renewed.
“The Governor today has indirectly acknowledged that this facility is not operating as promised to the public. A Special Committee must be formed, a forensic audit must be conducted, and the public has the right to know what actual value they are receiving from the Rp 1.28 trillion already spent,” Fuadi said.