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Jakarta to keep using Bantar Gebang landfill despite conflict
Dirty business: Garbage trucks enter the Bantar Gebang Integrated Waste Treatment Area (TPST) in Bekasi, West Java, on Friday
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Dirty business: Garbage trucks enter the Bantar Gebang Integrated Waste Treatment Area (TPST) in Bekasi, West Java, on Friday. Jakartaâs waste management has been almost paralyzed over the last few days after a dispute between the Jakarta administration and PT Godang Tua Jaya, the Bantar Gebang landfill operator, erupted two weeks ago. Garbage trucks from Jakarta can only enter the area at the agreed operational hours of 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. (JP/P.J. Leo) (TPST) in Bekasi, West Java, on Friday. Jakartaâs waste management has been almost paralyzed over the last few days after a dispute between the Jakarta administration and PT Godang Tua Jaya, the Bantar Gebang landfill operator, erupted two weeks ago. Garbage trucks from Jakarta can only enter the area at the agreed operational hours of 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. (JP/P.J. Leo)
Dirty business: Garbage trucks enter the Bantar Gebang Integrated Waste Treatment Area (TPST) in Bekasi, West Java, on Friday. Jakarta's waste management has been almost paralyzed over the last few days after a dispute between the Jakarta administration and PT Godang Tua Jaya, the Bantar Gebang landfill operator, erupted two weeks ago. Garbage trucks from Jakarta can only enter the area at the agreed operational hours of 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. (JP/P.J. Leo)
Amid a conflict over Jakarta's garbage, Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama emphasized on Friday that the city would still dump in the Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi and has asked the Jakarta Police to prevent anyone from interfering during transportation.
According to Ahok, there was currently no other choice of location to dispose of the waste than Bantar Gebang. However, he made sure that his administration would start to build an intermediate treatment facility (ITF) equipped with an incinerator.
'The construction of the ITF in Sunter [North Jakarta] will be started in 2016. For now, we will keep dumping in Bantar Gebang,' Ahok told reporters at the City Hall.
The city has been using the Bantar Gebang dump site to dispose of its daily waste since the 1980s. Nowadays, Jakarta dumps 6,700 tons of solid waste into the landfill per day. However, a disagreement with Bekasi councilors and the landfill operator has caused a disruption.
The rift started when a number of garbage trucks taking garbage from Jakarta were stopped by Bekasi city councilors and the Bekasi Transportation Agency for violating working hours and using a prohibited road. Bekasi councilors threatened to close access to Bantar Gebang for the violation.
In retaliation, Ahok said that the Bantar Gebang landfill stood on land owned by the Jakarta administration. According to the contract between Jakarta and the Bantar Gebang landfill operator PT Godang Tua Jaya (GTJ), the city hands over Rp 114,000 (US$8.30) to GTJ as Bantar Gebang's operator for each metric ton it dumps in the landfill.
He said that GTJ had breached its contract with Jakarta and failed to develop waste management technology. Ahok added that the Jakarta administration sought to terminate its contract with GTJ, which was scheduled to expire in 2023, after three warning letters that it would manage Bantar Gebang on its own.
Meanwhile, GTJ's lawyer Yusril Ihza Mahendra said the city administration was also in breach of contract as it had failed to reduce the amount of garbage produced in the city.
On Friday, Ahok criticized the Bekasi councilors' decision that limits the garbage trucks from Jakarta to drive via Cileungsi to Bantar Gebang only between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., saying that the short time window would prompt the piling up of trash in Jakarta.
'Previously there were no time limit for our garbage trucks to dispose of waste in Bantar Gebang [via Cileungsi]. We should be allowed to pass 24 hours a day. We hope the Jakarta Police will help us regarding this issue,' he said.
During his visit to City Hall, Jakarta Police head Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian said he would form a special team with the Bekasi City Police to safeguard the garbage trucks from Jakarta to Bekasi, including by making sure that the trips would not be limited to between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.
Cileungsi is an alternative to the Bekasi route, the use of which has been limited to between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. for years.
Tito said the Jakarta Police had identified the particular groups that arranged the garbage truck blockade a few days ago and he made assurances that the law would be enforced to support the governor.
'This is in the public interest and the Jakarta Police will make sure that the garbage trucks will not encounter any trouble in their trips [to Bantar Gebang],' Tito said. 'The Jakarta Police and the Bekasi City Police will form a special team for this. If someone tries to block the way, we will arrest him.'
He went on to say that he would also coordinate with the National Police chief and the head of the Bekasi Police to provide a wider time window for the trucks to enter Bantar Gebang via Cileungsi.
'If the trucks only get time between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., there will be traffic jams in the area and that will create another public disturbance. We don't want this,' he said.
