The Jakarta and Bekasi administrations have agreed to call a truce over their dispute regarding a grant to be given to the latter, after leaders of both regions met on Monday.

The dispute began last week when the Bekasi administration blocked some of Jakarta’s garbage trucks en route to the Bantar Gebang landfill, where around 7,000 tons of Jakarta’s waste is dumped on a daily basis, claiming that Jakarta had failed to fulfill some of its obligations under the cooperation agreement signed by both administrations.

A similar incident which city garbage trucks en route to Bantar Gebang were blocked also occurred in November 2015.

In October 2016, the Jakarta administration agreed to give two types of funds to the Bekasi administration, namely uang bau (smelly money), compensation disbursed to each affected household near Bantar Gebang landfill, and a grant to finance various projects, such as a road connecting Jakarta and the landfill.

The Jakarta administration paid the compensation of Rp 141 billion (US$9.28 million) in May this year.

Bekasi reportedly submitted a proposal for a Rp 2.09 trillion grant to the Jakarta administration on Oct. 15, a huge increase from the Rp 250 billion it reportedly received in 2017 and Rp 200 billion in 2016, according to tempo.co.

However, as the proposal was lodged when the city was discussing its budget priorities for 2019 with the Jakarta Council, Jakarta could only allocate the fund Bekasi said would be used to continue the development of the Rawa Panjang-Cipendawa overpass, in the 2019 revised budget or in the 2020 regional budget deliberations next year.

After Monday’s meeting, Rahmat expressed his relief, saying that there had been “miscommunication” between the Bekasi and Jakarta administrations.

“The proposal from Bekasi’s administration to Jakarta’s Governor […] is related to […] regional integration,” he said. “What we are asking for is the participation [of the Jakarta administration] because we both have cooperated on Bantar Gebang’s site management.”

Rahmat emphasized that the grant would be allocated for environment-supporting infrastructure, education, health and other facilities.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said they had scheduled another meeting on Thursday to discuss things further.

“The point is the spirit of cooperation, […] so that Greater Jakarta is developed in the spirit of integration,” he told journalists, adding that societal and economic development between both administrations was undeniably correlated.

“We want all areas around the capital city […] to get the same service from Jakarta and the [central] government,” he added.

Rahmat lauded Anies, saying that the submitted proposal was intended to integrate development between both administrations.

Wicaksono Sarosa, a director at Ruang Waktu, a knowledge hub for sustainable urban development, said it was about time waste management in Greater Jakarta was integrated.

However, he emphasized that the underlying problem was the mounting waste in Bantar Gebang. Thus, he said, the amount of waste dumped there should be addressed.

“The administrations have to be more serious in campaigning to reduce and separate waste prior to collection,” Wicaksono said.

Such waste treatment is in line with Regional Regulation No. 3/2013 on waste management, which emphasize the 3Rs: reduce, reuse and recycle.

“Residents play a big role. Indonesia, not only Jakarta, has to develop the culture of not just the 3Rs — but the 5Rs [refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, recycle],” Wicaksono said.

“Jakarta must have its own modern waste treatment facility that can accommodate the conversion of waste into energy and reduce the amount of waste dumped at Bantar Gebang,” he said.

To end its dependence on Bantar Gebang, the Jakarta administration is set to open its first intermediate treatment facility (ITF) in Sunter, North Jakarta.

“Insya Allah [God willing] in December we might have the groundbreaking of the ITF in Sunter. It can treat up to 2,200 tons of waste per day,” Anies said. (sau)

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