Sanitasi program plagued by problems

Sanitasi program plagued by problems

JAKARTA (JP): The city's sanitation program is hindered by
many problems, mainly the limited availability of garbage trucks,
large-scale waste dumps and the imbalance between the rising
number of new housing complexes with good waste disposal
facilities.

M. Subasir, head of the City Sanitation Office, told reporters
on Thursday that his office currently is operating only 729
garbage trucks, far below the ideal fleet of about 1,300.

Due to the limited availability of garbage trucks not all
rubbish can be transported to waste dumps, Subasir said.

Out of the 25,404 cubic meters of waste piling up throughout
the city each day, only 21,085 cubic meters can be handled by the
office, with the remainder being thrown into gutters, rivers or
vacant lots.

"The city has only one large-scale waste dump, which is
located in Bekasi," he said, adding that the facility covering
108-hectares has been in use since 1989.

Another large-scale waste dump will be built in Tangerang in a
bid to accommodate the rising quantity of garbage thrown away by
residents of the city, which has a population of about nine
million.

Subasir expressed concern over the reluctance of the
developers of new housing estates to provide adequate waste dumps
in their project areas.

"The lack of such facilities has given more burdens to the
City Sanitation Office," he said.

Assistant for City Secretary Prawoto S. Danoemihardjo said
that the subsidy incurred from the city budget to finance garbage
collection reaches about Rp 63 billion annually.

Sanitation fees collected from the public amounts to only Rp 8
billion per annum, he said. The low amount collected is
apparently caused by either the poor channel of collection from
the city administration or the lack of awareness on the part of
the public about the importance of paying garbage fees.

"The public's contribution is very small compared to the fund
provided by the city administration for the sanitation program,"
Prawoto said.

Subasir said that in a bid to improve garbage collection, his
office will implement a number of plans, including the
improvement of personnel skills, dissemination of information to
the public about the importance of sanitation and the launching
of sanitation linked with regreening activities.

Despite the limited availability of funds, the Sanitation
Office is also striving to improve the condition of existing
garbage trucks, inviting other related institutions to jointly
handle sanitation services and intensifying the existing cleaning
up programs along rivers and slum areas. (yns/hhr)