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)