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.