Slaughterhouses blight residents' lives

JAKARTA (JP): Residents of Pondok Rumput village in the Kebon Pedes subdistrict, Tanah Sereal, are calling on the local authorities to immediately relocate the dozens of chicken slaughterhouses which have blighted their lives for more than 10 years.

But the authorities claim they have only recently received promises of enough money to undertake a three-year-old relocation plan and will not give a fixed date for the move.

The unpleasant smell comes mainly from the chicken waste thrown into the village's narrow ditches, according to the residents.

"We've complained about this matter many times to the local government but it seems they don't listen to us," Sunyo Buwono, 82, a village resident, told The Jakarta Post.

"Ten years is more than enough for us and our families to put up with the bad odor," said another resident.

The head of the local livestock agency office, Didi Aswadi, said that the unfavorable smell was due to the owners' reluctance to clean the chicken coops and the ditches into which they threw the waste.

"I've ordered them to clean the ditches in the village at least once a week and the coops at least once every two days," Didi said.

He added that his office planned to relocate the Pondok Rumput chicken slaughterhouses to a well-designed 8.5-hectare complex in the nearby Kencana village.

"The relocation plan, set up in 1994 and requiring Rp 7 billion (US$2.7 million), has been delayed due to a shortage of funds," Didi said.

But the Japanese government recently promised to help provide the shortfall, he said. The local government would also be contributing.

"The Japanese government has verbally promised to donate to the project," he explained but said he had no idea when the Japanese aid would be forthcoming, or when the move would happen.

According to Didi, the area would be divided into two sections.

The first, a two-hectare plot, would be allocated to privately run chicken butchers and the remaining 6.5 hectares would be used for government-run slaughterhouses for other livestock, such as cows and goats.

Didi guaranteed that the slaughterhouse owners would not oppose the relocation.

"They have given their word to us that they are ready to be relocated," Didi said.

Around 3,900 chickens, 68 cows, 30 goats and nine pigs are slaughtered every day in Bogor, home to around 700,000 people. (24/bsr)