To dump or not to dump?: Jakarta weighs its options
To dump or not to dump?: Jakarta weighs its options
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Jakarta administration has yet to decide whether it will
start operating the 104-hectare Bantar Gebang dump again
following an offer by Bekasi municipality to allow the capital to
resume dumping its 6,000 tons of daily garbage there.
"For the time being, Governor Sutiyoso has ordered the
relevant officials to discuss Bekasi's offer on the use of the
Bantar Gebang dump with Bekasi officials," city spokesman Muhayat
said on Saturday.
Assistant to the city secretary for development affairs, IGKG
Suena, and Jakarta Sanitation Agency head Selamat Limbong were
tasked to check if Bekasi was really serious about the offer.
"We simply don't want to be trapped into further uncertainty
in the future if we hurriedly decide to use the Bantar Gebang
dump again," Muhayat said.
Bekasi Mayor Akhmad Zurfaih sent a letter to Sutiyoso on
Friday informing him that the mayor and Bekasi councillors had
agreed to allow Jakarta the dump its garbage in Bantar Gebang
based on the joint agreement between the administrations of
Jakarta and Bekasi dated Dec. 22.
Jakarta closed down the dump last week after Bekasi demanded
the capital pay a waste processing fee of Rp 85,000 (US$10) for
each ton of waste.
The closure led to a garbage crisis in the two cities, which
both use the dump, that has lasted for more than a week. In the
meantime, Jakarta began to dump its waste in swampy, open land in
Cilincing and Rorotan subdistricts, both in North Jakarta.
Playing down the waste crisis in the capital, Muhayat said
that the city administration would keep focusing on its plan to
invite investors to provide high technology waste management
facilities for Jakarta.
"These investors will build the facilities for us. That's why
we are not putting any allocations in the 2004 budget to finance
the building of high-tech waste facilities," he asserted.
In the budget allocation for sanitation, the sanitation agency
has not earmarked any funds for high technology waste management
facilities. Instead, it has allocated Rp 25 billion to compensate
Bekasi for the use of Bantar Gebang.