Bandung municipality plans to procure a contractor to manage the the construction of a waste-based power station, and educate the public about the importance of using waste as an alternative energy resource.
The director of the Bandung municipality enterprise, Cece Iskandar, expects the municipality to announce the contract winner soon.
Cece said the alternative, a landfill waste management site proposed by West Java administration, was not appropriate for Bandung because there was limited land available.
The power plant, however, would be built using eco-friendly technology, he said.
"For practical reasons, an investor will build the infrastructure, and we will pay its operating costs using tons of garbage," Cece said in Bandung on Thursday.
The Sarimukti landfill, the dump where most of Bandung's waste now ends up, is expected to reach capacity by 2012, Cece said.
The Sarimukti landfill had replaced the Leuwigajah landfill in Cimahi after a garbage slide there killed more than 100 people in 2006.
The planned power station has been subject to protests from environmental experts who fear toxic fumes from the plant put residents' health at risk.
A recent feasibility study conducted by the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) found that around 25 percent of the 2,785 cubic meters of garbage produced by Bandung residents every day could be recycled.
If incinerated in the plant, the research suggests, the remaining 75 percent, comprising organic and other wastes, could increase dioxin air pollution levels.
According to ITB researchers, investors should install a real-time dioxin measuring device to prevent excessive pollution of the city's air.
Cece expressed hopes the power station would be operating to capacity by 2010, before the closure of the Sarimukti landfill.
Cece added that his office would continue to handle waste applying the 3-R principles (reuse, reduce and recycle).
"We will ensure that the waste-based power station will be environmentally friendly and an air pollution measuring device will be installed to keep pollutants at tolerable levels," he said.
The municipality would continue to manage waste in line with its contract, under which the provincial administration is responsible for managing waste from Bandung and Cimahi municipalities, and Bandung, Sumedang, West Bandung and Garut regencies, Cece said.
"Let's work together to minimize the waste problem," he said.
In response to the strong possibility of the project going ahead, the coordinator of a group of residents against the waste-based power station, Roni Tabroni, said the project would be hampered by a number of setbacks.
The municipality had no strong basis for choosing to build the plant at the proposed site, because based on the city's spatial planning code, Gedebage is a residential zone, Ronisaid. "They should revise the regulation first. We will remain opposed to the plan and will take the matter to court if necessary."
