Dumping trashes: Garbage trucks queue up to dump garbage at Bantar Gebang garbage treatment facility in Bekasi, West Java, in December, 2015
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The government plans to develop waste-based power plants as part of an effort to resolve acute garbage problems within seven cities -- Jakarta, Bandung, Tangerang, Semarang, Surabaya, Surakarta and Makassar.
The decision was made in a limited Cabinet meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta on Friday.
The use of technology in waste management is to effectively and efficiently reduce waste problems and increase electricity supply in big cities, said President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo during the cabinet meeting.
"But, most importantly, to clean the garbage so it can both produce energy and disappear from the city," Jokowi added.
As a legal basis for the policy, the government has drafted a presidential regulation (Perpres) on this matter, said cabinet secretary Pramono Anung.
He said that nearly all the host cities, with the exception of Surakarta, produce more than 1,000 tons of garbage per day. Surakarta produces about 200 -250 tons per day but has been included in the project as a pilot for medium-sized cities, Pramono added.
"This draft presidential regulation has been submitted to the President. Hopefully with the appointment of the seven cities, waste that has been a serious problem for big cities throughout Indonesia will be handled," he said.
Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said that in this regulation, the government had assigned state-owned company PT PLN to purchase the electricity from waste-based power plants.
"Discussion has been ongoing due to an expensive tariff. PLN did not want to buy. Now we have made clear the mechanism and the tariff. It is still too expensive, the government will assist," Darmin said.
Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil welcomed the government decision on waste management, adding that his city had already implemented technology-based waste management.
The weakness of the current technology, he added, is that it only process half of Bandung's waste production, an amount that currently stands at around 1,500 tons per day.
"So I still have to send half of the waste to landfill, it is less attractive. We are currently reviewing zero waste technology," Ridwan said. (bbn)
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