Zulhas Says Prabowo is Worried About Waste: It's Been 80 Years and Still Not Resolved

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs Zulkifli Hasan stated that waste management is one of President Prabowo Subianto’s major concerns, as it remains unresolved to this day.

He made this remark while attending the declaration of the waste sorting movement and the launch of Jakarta’s 499th Anniversary celebrations in the Car Free Day area on Jalan H.R. Rasuna Said, on Sunday (10/5/2026).

“The President is truly worried; it’s impossible for us to become an advanced and great nation if we can’t even manage waste,” said Zulhas in his speech.

Zulhas revealed that President Prabowo views waste issues as a fundamental problem that the government must resolve immediately.

“The President said, ‘Why has waste been unresolved for 80 years?’” Zulhas stated.

He then touched on the complexity of the permitting process for waste processing projects, which has been seen as a major obstacle.

According to Zulhas, only two waste processing projects have successfully obtained permits in the last 11 years.

“Eleven years, two! And one of them can’t operate, the other one operates intermittently, on-off. That’s 11 years,” he said.

He explained that the government currently targets resolving emergency waste handling in 71 cities grouped into 22 agglomerations by May 2028 at the latest.

According to him, areas such as Bantargebang, Bandung, and South Tangerang are included in the emergency waste categories that are government priorities.

“Emergency ones like Bantargebang, Bandung, Tangsel, and others, totalling about 71 cities grouped into 22 agglomerations,” Zulhas said.

“We will resolve the emergency ones by May 2028. If we don’t finish, you can protest me in May 2028,” he added.