Smelly garbage to irk Jakartans for some time ahead
Smelly garbage to irk Jakartans for some time ahead
or
The garbage problem seems to be here to stay
Bambang Nurbianto
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Jakartans still remember the garbage crisis at the end of 2001
when the Bekasi municipality administration, backed by its
residents, closed the Bantar Gebang dump for weeks, leaving the
capital perplexed over how to handle its mounting garbage.
Bekasi argued that the 104-hectare dump, that has accommodated
Jakarta's 6,000 tons of garbage a day since 1986, had caused
environmental damage in the area and endangered people's health.
The closure resulted in piles of garbage on every corner of
the city, spreading a putrid smell.
The heated dispute between Jakarta and Bekasi ended after
President Megawati Soekarnoputri and State Minister of the
Environment Nabiel Makarim intervened.
Governor Sutiyoso decided at that time to dismiss the chief
and deputy chief of the Jakarta Sanitation Agency and paid a
total of Rp 22 billion (US$2.59 million) compensation for Bekasi.
However, city officials have yet to learn.
While the administration is aware that Dec. 31 is the last day
that the city can make use of Bantar Gebang, the administration
has not prepared alternative waste treatment facilities to
replace the existing dump site.
In June, the officials convinced Jakartans they had prepared
three separate locations for waste treatment facilities to
replace Bantar Gebang.
Sutiyoso himself even said that he would "hang" officials who
gave misleading reports on the preparation of the dumps.
So far, only one waste treatment facility in Bojong village,
Bogor regency, with a capacity of only about 1,500 tons per day,
will be ready by January.
Bojong residents are firmly opposed to the presence of the new
dump. As an indication of just how strong their opposition is to
the site, police had to fire warning shots during a protest early
this month. Jakarta's plan to use German technology in treating
garbage to minimize environmental damage did nothing to sway the
opinion of people living in the area around the dump.
Two other facilities in Duri Kosambi, West Jakarta, -- which
locals are also opposed to -- and on Jl. Cakung Cilincing in East
Jakarta will only be ready by June 2004, officials said.
Meanwhile it seems not one of the officials responsible is
about to be "hanged" as Sutiyoso threatened.
In the last weeks, Sutiyoso has been trying hard to persuade
the Bekasi administration to change its mind, including offering
Rp 25 billion in compensation, hoping Bekasi would reopen Bantar
Gebang although the latter already has plans to convert the site
into a community area.
Once the Jakarta administration manages to identify the
reasons behind Bekasi and Bojong's rejection of their proposal,
they can change their approach.
Observers had previously called on Jakarta to comply with all
items already agreed upon including the installment of a
processing plant in Bantar Gebang to avoid the worsening
environmental damage.
The piling waste is supposed to be processed using the
sanitary landfill system. In reality, the garbage is just dumped
in the open with mounds of garbage towering 15 meters high.
Many residents living around the dump site suffer from
respiratory problems, diarrhea and various skin ailments, due to
the foul air and contaminated ground water.
Jakarta had also failed to regreen Bantar Gebang as stated in
a renewed agreement signed in early 2002. The agreement also said
that the capital would build a water pipeline to supply clean
water for people in surrounding villages.
A metropolis like Jakarta, which covers an area of 60,000
hectares, should have its own waste treatment facilities. The
city administration has signed nine memorandums of understanding
(MOUs) with private companies toward that goal.
However, only two of them have been followed through.
PT Wira Gulfindo Sarana is managing the facility in Bojong
while PT Interindo Global is now constructing a facility in Duri
Kosambi that will convert garbage into liquid fertilizer.
The city, in another effort to ease the crisis had provided
incinerators to subdistricts. However, the program failed because
it could not significantly reduce the garbage. Officials argued
that the now idle incinerators did not match the specifications
in the original plan.
In 2002, the city allocated Rp 103 billion for sanitation
projects but some Rp 32 billion of that was unused. This year,
the city allocated some Rp 280 billion for similar projects.
There have been no details given on the expenditure.
Officials argued that they failed to finish the waste
treatment facilities on time because the residents demanded
payment for their land based on its taxable value (NJOP) --
higher than what the administration had offered -- delaying the
clearing of the land for the projects.
The question is, when all efforts to get Bantar Gebang dump
back failed, what can Jakartans do to ease the waste crisis?
It is important that Jakartans start separating organic and
nonorganic waste in every household, experts say. Data from the
Jakarta Sanitation Agency revealed that around 65 percent of the
daily waste is from households and small markets, meaning that
there is a large proportion of organic waste.
Subdistricts officials must actively campaign for the adoption
of simple waste treatment methods such as composting to turn
organic waste into fertilizer. Even scavengers must be taught to
sort garbage because some of the nonorganic garbage can be turned
into recycled items.
Changing people's habits and encouraging the use of recycled
products will help ease the garbage problems.
If all necessary efforts in managing garbage have been taken,
Jakartans will be able to handle its waste in a more
environmentally friendly way without depending on neighboring
cities.
Source of garbage in Jakarta
No. Source of garbage Volume (m3) Percentage
----------------------------------------------------
1. Households 14,602 58.0
2. Small markets 629 2.5
3. PD Pasar Jaya
(City owned markets) 1,888 7.5
4. Industry 3,776 15.0
5. Roads and parks 3,776 15.0
6 Rivers 505 2.0
--------------------------------------------------
Total 25,176 100
Source: Jakarta Sanitation Agency
Agreements with private companies
No. Company Locations Status Capacity Notes
ton/day
-------------------------------------------------------------
1. PT Wira Gulfindo Bojong, agreement 1,500 ready in
Sarana Bogor signed January
2. PT Wira Gulfindo Cacing, no
Sarana E. Jakarta MOU 1,000 follow up
3. PT Interindo D. Kosambi agreement 1,000 ready in
Global signed June 2004
4. PT Tata Prima Nambo, MOU 1,500 no
Alam Bogor follow up
5. PT Bio Pupuk Marunda no
Indonesia Jaya N. Jakarta MOU 350 follow up
6. PT Dasa Prima Sukapura MOU 500 no
Lestari Unggul E. Jakarta follow up
7. PT ACME Corp. Marunda MOU 1,000 no
follow up
8 PT Galuh Chandra Rawa Buaya proposed 500 no
Kirana W. Jakarta MOU 1,000 follow up
9. PT Karya Mitra Cakung no
Selaras E. Jakarta MOU follow up
10. PT Bhineka P. Marunda MOU 6,000 no
Marketindo follow up
11. PT Sucaco Daan Mogot proposed 1,200 no
W. Jakarta MOU follow up
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Source: Jakarta Sanitation Agency