Ciangir residents protest planned waste treatment plant

Multa Fidrus ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Tangerang   |  Tue, 11/03/2009 6:10 PM  |  Jakarta

Residents of Ciangir village have expressed their disapproval of the administration’s plan to build a waste treatment plant in Legok, Tangerang, to municipality councilors.

“We ask the council to review the planned waste treatment plant in our village,” Deden Ade Suryana, one of the village representatives, told journalists at the regency’s legislative council building in Tigaraksa on Monday.

Dozens of protesters forced their way into the office of Commission C, which oversees environmental matters, to deliver their message.

According to Deden, the locals reject the plan because they fear the negative impacts the plant could have on their lives.

“Tangerang Regent Ismet Iskandar and his deputy Rano Karno had repeatedly promised that the waste plant will be environmentally friendly and safe because of a zero-waste system, but who can guarantee that their promise is more than just lip service?” he said.    

In response to the villagers’ protests, the council will form a special committee to discuss the matter in the near future.

“We will soon form a committee to discuss the matter and to find a suitable compromise,” Hendra, a councilor of Commission D, which oversees development programs, said.

The Jakarta administration signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tangerang regency administration on August 28 to jointly develop the waste treatment plant in Ciangir.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo and Tangerang Regent Ismet Iskandar signed the document after years of opposition from Tangerang residents.

The Ciangir plant’s waste management system features technologies such as an anaerobic digester which reduces emissions of landfill gas and can be used as a renewable energy source, which proponents say also helps avoid water and soil pollution.

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