Residents demand unfulfilled promises
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Local residents living near the site of the Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi are complaining over the slow development of public facilities worth Rp 14 billion (US$1.4 million) that were promised by the Jakarta administration as a precondition for the reopening of the dump to Jakarta garbage.
Residents from three villages, Sumur Batu, Cikiwul, and Ciketing Udik, whose houses are separated from the dump by just a three-meter-height wall, vowed to disrupt the operation of the dump if by May. 30 there had been no sign of the facilities starting to be developed.
Earlier this year, the Jakarta administration agreed to build public facilities and infrastructure, including roads, mosques, a public health center, a 10-meter-high wall cordoning off the dump, sports facilities and a clean water network in the adjacent villages.
Rp 14 billion needed to build the facilities was handed over by the Jakarta administration to the Bekasi municipality earlier this year.
Respected Sumur Batu resident Nasir Anwar said that the residents were waiting for the Bekasi administration to soon start the development of the facilities.
"For 15 years now, we have been tired listening to the promises peddled by the Jakarta administration. Now, we want compensation for the misery caused to us by the dump. Thus, we are urging the Bekasi administration, who currently have the money, to promptly fulfill the resident's demands, or else we will close the dump down," he said.
Nasir added that the Bekasi administration had only said that the delay was due to the need to comply with administrative procedures.
The villagers have now formed a team consisting of 30 prominent figures from the three villages to monitor the realization of the compensation project.
They are even going to the Bekasi municipal offices every week to monitor the usage of the funds.
"We must keep our eyes open to any irregularities in the management of the money. That's why we have been coming to the municipal offices every week since the disbursement of the money on March 25," said Nasir.
Bekasi municipality spokesman Cecep admitted that they were still finalizing the administrative requirements as the project was a huge one. Thus, the municipality could not state any firm date for its completion.
The villagers, who are mostly destitute, would appear to deserve the compensation as their living conditions are appalling.
In Sumur Batu, in addition to the almost unbearable smell, the road is heavily pot-holed, with pools of water and garbage everywhere, resulting in a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes and other lethal insects.
In order to win the hearts and minds of the Bantar Gebang residents, who had earlier rejected the reopening of the dump, the Jakarta administration has been showering the residents with money, with the amount this year being increased by 560 percent over the previous Rp 2.5 billion.
The Jakarta administration will also fulfill Bekasi's earlier demands, which are separate from the compensation funds, for the building of a hospital, clean water facilities, and the application of a sanitary landfill system at the dump.
However, when The Jakarta Post inspected the site, there was no sign of any such plan being realized.
The director of the Bantar Gebang dump, Jawawi Mubarok, said that the Sanitation Agency was already working on a sanitary landfill system, which currently involved 7 hectares of the 104- hectare dump.
"Our yearly target is 27 hectares for the landfill system, and until now we have encountered no difficulty at all. As for the local piped water supply and the hospital, we are still waiting for the other relevant agencies to get involved in the construction work," he said.