Tangerang faces border woes alone
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
The Tangerang municipal administration continues to face problems regarding the public services and facilities the city shares with Jakarta, due to the two cities' common border.
Municipal secretary Harry Mulya Zain told The Jakarta Post on Saturday that during his visit to Tangerang General Hospital on the eve of Idul Fitri last week, he found that many of the patients were Jakarta residents.
He added that most of the patients at Tangerang's public health centers in Larangan and Cileduk districts, which share a border with South Jakarta, are Jakarta residents living in Ulujami, and Pesanggrahan subdistricts.
"We will write to the Jakarta administration requesting that Governor Sutiyoso pay attention to this matter and work hand-in- hand with Tangerang to improve public health services," he said.
Harry said the administration would propose that more of its budget be assigned to the health sector next year. While Jakarta would allocate city budget funds for the alleviation of the medical expenses of poor Jakartans who were being treated or hospitalized in Tangerang.
He said the municipal administration also planned to recruit more health workers in a bid to improve health services after it had established dozens of public health centers in 13 districts over the past few years.
Separately in the day, Tangerang Mayor Wahidin Halim said that the municipality had to bear a number of social problems emerging from Jakarta.
"It would do no harm if the Jakarta administration cooperated with us to cope with such problems," he remarked.
He said that one of the problems regarded the eviction of Tanjung Duren residents in West Jakarta last year.
"The evictees moved to Batu Ceper district, creating more population problems for us."
Garbage problems in the capital also gave Tangerang a headache the past several months, since many garbage trucks entered the municipality after midnight and illegally disposed of garbage at Rawa Kucing dump in Neglasari district.
"The garbage truck drivers played hide-and-seek with us," Wahidin said.