Residents of Kademangan village in Setu district, South Tangerang municipality, have opposed a plan by the local administration to build a garbage landfill in the area.
On Monday, residents of Cipeucang, Curug and Nambo kampungs decried the plan they claimed would only pollute the local environment.
Kademangan village official Muhdi said the landfill would cause a permanent bad stench.
“Why should we live among piles of garbage?” he said. “We’ve been living here just fine for years now.”
He added the municipal administration had never discussed the plan with the village administration.
“All we know is the administration plans to build the landfill on a hectare of land owned by the Bumi Serpong Damai property developer,” Muhdi said.
He claimed there was no way that area would be enough for hundreds of tons of garbage a day, adding the municipal administration would sooner or later need to address local residents about acquiring their land.
Local resident Sabrudin pointed out there were many “luxury housing complexes” near the site for the planned landfill, making it unlikely the administration’s plan would received with any semblance of fervor.
The plan comes as an existing contract for the Tangerang regency administration to process South Tangerang’s garbage gets set to expire on Dec. 31.
“As of January next year, we won’t be handling South Tangerang’s garbage,” Tangerang Parks and Sanitation Agency head Herry Heryanto told The Jakarta Post.
However, he added Tangerang regency would still accommodate any plan to collaborate with South Tangerang on processing garbage.
South Tangerang municipality is made up of seven districts — Ciputat, East Ciputat, Pamulang, Pondok Aren, Serpong, North Serpong and Setu — that seceded from Tangerang regency in November 2008.
Under the prevailing law, the parent administration must cede responsibility for all public services to the new administration after a year.
Dedi Mulyadi, head of transportation at the South Tangerang sanitation agency, said his office was still negotiating the requisition of a 4-hectare plot for the landfill in Cipeucang.
“We’re doing our best, and we hope there are no obstacles in the implementation,” he said.
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