Regions react to environmental rankings

Regions react to environmental rankings

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Leaders of administrations declared as "dirtiest places" by the
Environment Ministry last Friday have reacted variously to the
announcement.

Head of the Sanitation and Environment Agency in Bogor, Achmad
Syarif, said Sunday that they would protest the labeling, arguing
that the judgment was subjective and discredited the Bogor
Municipality.

"We cannot accept the judgment as it gives the impression that
we don't work at all (to clean up the town)," Achmad was quoted
by tempointeraktif.com as saying on Sunday.

During the Environment Award night last Friday evening, Bogor
was named as one of Indonesia's dirtiest large towns, together
with Bandar Lampung and Batam, while Tangerang, Depok and
Palembang were declared the dirtiest metropolitan cities.

Achmad said that a team from the Bogor Sanitation and
Environment Agency would try to get clarification from the
Environment Ministry on Monday.

Unlike the Bogor Municipality, the Tangerang Municipality was
indifferent to the announcement, with Mayor Wahidin Halim saying
only that the announcement should serve as a challenge to work
harder.

"Just let it be. At least, such a judgment will encourage us
to work harder to improve the city's sanitation in the future,"
Wahidin told The Jakarta Post from Bandung, West Java, on
Saturday.

He also said that the municipal administration was currently
focusing on developing infrastructure including transportation,
health and educational facilities.

"We are widening several main roads to smoothen traffic. As a
consequence, we have had to cut down many trees along the roads,"
he said.

He said that the municipal administration spent 49 percent of
its 2005 budget to build 214 schools, including dozens of public
health centers in 13 districts, and that problems such as garbage
and pollution had been ignored.

Wahidin admitted that road widening projects in Tangerang had
also caused traffic congestion at certain points, while the
pollution in the Cisadane River had still not been resolved.

"Right now, we are still focusing on infrastructure problems
so that we have yet to pay attention to the city's cleanliness,'
he added.

The government announced for the first time last Friday a list
of the country's dirtiest cities in a bid to encourage municipal
administrations to clean up heavily polluted urban areas.

Tangerang in Banten, Depok in West Java and Palembang in South
Sumatra were named dirtiest metropolitan cities in the country,
while Bandar Lampung in Lampung, Batam in Riau Islands and Bogor
in West Java were listed as dirtiest big towns.