Support sought for garbage processing plant

JAKARTA (JP): A private firm met the City Council on Tuesday, seeking council's approval for the development of a garbage processing plant which would change the city's trash into environmentally friendly organic fertilizer.

PT Bio fertilizer Indonesia's president B. Wiradidjaja said, if it was agreed, the construction of the plant could be built in Duri Kosambi, West Jakarta, with a total investment of Rp 54 billion (US$4.9 million).

"We hope that, through a gubernatorial decree or bylaw, we will be appointed to manage the city's garbage for between three to five years," Wiradidjaja said in a meeting with the council's Commission D for development affairs.

He claimed that the plant, which used Canadian technology, could be operated from June, next year, if the cooperation between his company and the city administration could soon be realized.

In his cooperation scheme, the city administration will provide about 2 hectares of land needed for the plant worth Rp 2 billion as the city's share in the project, while the remaining Rp 52 billion will be provided by the firm.

"There are some foreign investors who have committed to invest in the project. Some local contractors are also ready to build the plant," he said, refusing to mention the foreign investors.

Wiradidjaja said the plant could process 220 tons of organic trash a day.

He said his firm planned to build 10 plants in the city's five mayoralties to process the city's garbage which amounted to 5,000 tons a day.

"By using this technology, we can cut the cost by half of the current garbage processing system," he claimed.

He revealed that currently garbage processing in the city's Bantar Gebang garbage dump in Bekasi needed Rp 60,000 per ton while the proposed plant only needed Rp 20,000 to process one ton of garbage.

He said the factory's products, liquid and solid fertilizers could be exported or sold domestically since they were cheaper than chemical fertilizers.

"There is also a commitment from foreign firms to buy our products. But we are sure that the products will also be needed by local farmers," he said.

Some of the councillors, including Bimo Hastoro and Tarmidi Edy Suwarno from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), had earlier visited the firm.

City Governor Sutiyoso, who visited the firm in April, had expressed his plan earlier to adopt the garbage processing technology.

Some councillors however also questioned whether PT Bio Fertilizer Indonesia would put out of work the thousands of scavengers whose livelihood currently depended on the trash.

"We would employ them as workers. It would be more humane and easier for them," Wiradidjaja said.

He said a garbage processing plant would need at least 300 scavengers to separate nonorganic from organic trash before the later was processed in a high temperature tube to be transformed into organic fertilizer. (jun)