T

he Jakarta administration will work together with the central government to build new liquid-waste treatment systems in the capital, a project that has been delayed for 15 years.

Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said on Friday that the city administration would build two out of the planned 14 zones.

'€œThe Public Works Ministry will help us build the whole system with grants from the Japan International Cooperation Agency [JICA]. However, the administration will carry out the construction of two zones,'€ he said.

'€œThis city has a poor sewerage system, so we want to start the project as soon as possible,'€ Ahok added.

The pollution control and sanitation division head of the Jakarta Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD), Andono Warih, said the Public Works Ministry and the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) had set up the master plan of the liquid-waste management system for the city.

Andono said the city would have a total of 15 sewerage zones that were expected to be finished by 2050. The project will cost around Rp 70 trillion (US$6.37 billion).

'€œOut of 15 zones of the centralized treatment plan, the city has built one zone, located in Setiabudi in South Jakarta. It covers only two percent of the city'€™s liquid waste,'€ he said.

Andono said constructing zones 1 and 6, which would cover up to 20 percent of the city'€™s liquid waste, would be the first part of the program. '€œWe expect the project will be finished by 2020,'€ he said.

Zone 1 will cover Central Jakarta areas, including the areas around Jl. Jend. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin, and north to Pluit in North Jakarta. Zone 6 will cover the Bung Karno Stadium area in South Jakarta, Daan Mogot and Duri Kosambi in West Jakarta.

'€œThe cost to construct both zones is estimated at around Rp 4 trillion,'€ Andono said.

The city administration has agreed to pay 30 percent of the project cost while the ministry will cover the rest.

Andono said the central government was finalizing the detailed engineering design and would open the tender next year.

As a big capital city, Jakarta does not have a proper liquid-waste management system. Houses in the city generally have only septic tanks for liquid waste from lavatories while other waste-water is channeled into neighboring drains that feed into rivers.

'€œThe waste heavily pollutes the drains and rivers in the city,'€ he said.

According to Andono, drains are supposed to be dedicated only to channelling rainfall. He said the sewerage system would collect liquid waste and stream it to a central waste treatment plant.

'€œWe will clean the water, so it can be used as raw water,'€ he said, adding that it would help the city cope with its ongoing clean water shortage.

Besides taking care of liquid-waste management, the city administration has also committed to tackling the solid-waste problem.

The city has finally renewed its bylaw on waste management, 25 years after it was drafted, and it plans to build a number of intermediate treatment facilities (ITF) in Sunter and Marunda in North Jakarta and in Semanan, West Jakarta, in addition to the ITF in Cakung Cilincing to lessen the burden of the overloaded Bantargebang landfill in Bekasi, West Java.