Support sought for garbage processing plant
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)