W. Java administrations asked to pay Rp 56b for garbage slide

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Four West Java administrations that used Leuwigajah dump will be required to pay Rp 56 billion (US$5.8 million) in damages, an official said on Tuesday.

Mountains of garbage at Leuwigajah dump in South Cimahi collapsed in February this year, flattening 69 houses and burying 143 residents living nearby.

Ade Suhanda Adnawidjaja, head of the team dealing with the Leuwigajah disaster, said Bandung regency and mayoralty, and Cimahi mayoralty as well as West Java provincial administration would have to pay damages.

The dump was closed after the disaster, causing garbage to pile up at temporary dumps. The Leuwigajah dump took garbage from Cimahi mayoralty as well as Bandung regency and mayoralty.

In April, after being left in uncertainty for more than two months, 41 affected families decided to take the matter to court, filing a civil case at the Bandung District Court. The case has yet to be heard.

In their case, the families named as defendants West Java Governor Danny Setiawan, Bandung Mayor Dada Rosada, Cimahi Mayor Itoch Tochija and Bandung Regent Obar Sobarna, as well as the head of the Bandung municipal sanitation office.

Ade said the Rp 56 billion would be used to compensate families of dead victims and seriously injured victims, as well as to pay relocation costs for families living in 102 houses that were damaged in the disaster.

The team, he said, also took into account rehabilitation costs and an environment analysis of the dump, valued at Rp 500 million and Rp 400 million respectively.

Dead victims, he said, would receive Rp 25 million each, while injured victims would get Rp 10 million each.

"At an earlier discussion with heads of the administrations, it was decided that the provincial administration would have to pay 30 percent (of the Rp 56 billion) and the rest will be paid by the three administrations," he said.

Out of the remaining 70 percent, Bandung mayoralty will pay the most, or 75 percent, Bandung regency 17 percent and Cimahi mayoralty 8 percent.

West Java Governor Danny Setiawan said the provincial administration was ready to pay.

"But the shared amount should be calculated again. Deputy governor (Nu'man Abdul Hakim) is currently calculating the amount. But if we have to pay, and if approved by the provincial council, we'll pay," he announced on Tuesday.