T

he administration says it will ask the private sector to bid on contracts to run three inner-city garbage processing centers — part of its plan to completely privatize dumps citywide.

The tenders would call for bids to expand processing capacity at waste management plants in Marunda and Sunter, North Jakarta; and in Cakung-Cilincing, East Jakarta; Jakarta Sanitation Agency chief Eko Baruna said on Wednesday.

“We will offer the expansion project to private companies. We will leave all responsibility for the processing activity and equipment to them,” Eko said at the City Hall.

He added that the agency would hold tender auctions for the project between March and April and pay the successful bidders US$20 for every ton of waste processed.

The Marunda, Sunter and Cakung-Cilincing waste management plants, which covered 12 hectares, 4 hectares and 6 hectares respectively, currently processed between 200 and 300 tons of waste each day, he said.

Capacity would be boosted to up to 1,200 tons a day at Marunda and Sunter and to 1,500 tons per day at Cakung-Cilincing after the expansion, he added.

Jakarta produced an average of 6,595 tons of solid waste a day in 2010, up from 6,200 in 2009.

The administration is presently relying on the 110-hectare Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi.

Eko said that the city has sent 92 percent of its non-industrial waste, a third of which was comprised of plastic and paper, to the landfill.

The Jakarta administration renewed its contract with the Bekasi administration in 2009 to use the Bantar Gebang landfill for another 20 years.

The planned Jakarta-Tangerang waste facility landfill in Ciangir, Tangerang, has yet open. The jointly managed facility was expected to treat 1,500 of 2,500 tons of garbage generated by West Jakarta, South Jakarta and Tangerang each day when it begins operation.

Eko said that in the future the Sanitation Agency would leave garbage management to the private sector, with the agency taking a supervisory role. Private companies currently handle 35 percent of Jakarta waste.

“Handling aspects of waste management such as personnel and equipment is too much for the agency,” he said.

The Sanitation Agency stopped recruiting new personnel three years ago, reporting 1,600 employees in 2010, down from 3,200 in 2007, mostly due to retirements.

“In 2013, we estimate we will have only 800 personnel,” Eko said, adding that he considered that figure an ideal number for the agency to run effectively and efficiently.

The city’s overwhelming waste problems have encouraged residents to independently reduce and manage their waste, setting up communal waste management centers called trash banks.

The administration has recorded 94 trash banks set up by local communities in the city, mostly in Central and East Jakarta.