Sewerage system concept introduced

Sewerage system concept introduced

JAKARTA (JP): A group of Australian companies held a one-day
workshop at Hotel Borobudur in Central Jakarta on Tuesday to
introduce comprehensive concepts of the Total Integrated
Wastewater and Sewerage System (TIWASS).

The workshop was jointly organized by the city administration
and the state government of New South Wales, Australia, under a
sister state-province agreement.

The director of Australia's Global Grid, Mark Bingham, said
with the system, the city administration could serve 2.25 million
households in 2010. The construction project would cost some US$4
billion, he said.

"We plan a yearly expenditure of $500 million to $700 million
for seven years," he said.

The system includes an integration of service coverage,
managing institutions, a planning approach, financing scheme and
construction scheme. It also promises residents' active
involvement.

Governor Sutiyoso said while addressing the opening of the
workshop that Jakarta needed a waste water and sewerage system to
keep the environment clean.

"Jakarta needs such a system to provide better service to its
residents and to keep the environment clean. We can learn this
system and apply it here," he told the workshop participants.

Head of the Regional Environmental Impact Management Agency
(Bapedalda) Aboejoewono Aboeprajitno said the city administration
was still looking for a suitable sewer system to be applied here.

"This workshop is intended to present the information of the
new system as well as to get public input," he said.

Director of city-owned sewer company PD Pal Jaya Eben Kusbini
told reporters that the company only served 220,000 residents, or
2.8 percent of the city population, in Setiabudhi and Tebet
areas, South Jakarta.

"Currently we are developing our network to serve buildings
along Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta, Jl. Hayam Wuruk in West
Jakarta and Jl. Pluit in North Jakarta," he said.

A professor of sanitary engineering at the Bandung Institute
of Technology (ITB), Asis Djajadiningrat, said the system needed
modification before it could be applied here.

"We must remember that the condition in Jakarta is different
from Australia, which has a low resident density level," he told
The Jakarta Post.

He preferred a more decentralized system due to diversified
housing conditions in Jakarta.

"It's better for the city administration to establish
treatment plants at a local level, such as the subdistrict or
community unit (RW) levels," he said.

"We must consider Pondok Indah housing complex and Tebet
residential area, both in South Jakarta, have different problems.
Each area has its own problems, thus a separate approach is
needed," he added.

Asis said the city administration should provide good service,
especially to residents living in slum areas.

Sociologist Sarjono Yatiman from the University of Indonesia
said the city administration could simply establish the system
from a technological point of view.

"The problem is whether residents are ready to adopt the
technology," he told the Post. He said most residents live in
rural areas with limited access to technology.

"Another problem is whether the residents can afford the
service at a reasonable price or not," he added, while suggesting
a cross subsidy. (05)