Bekasi regency workers in West Java need some 10 days to clear about 2,000 tons of garbage from the Pisang Batu River in Tarumajaya district.

Workers have been clearing the polluted river since Jan. 5 using two backhoes and 15 dump trucks leaving only residue floating on its surface.

“We have agreed with the locals that the residue and mud would be used to build mounds on the river’s banks,” the Bekasi Environment Agency's sanitary department head, Dodi Agus, said on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.

Despite the clean-up, the river, which is a tributary of the Blancong River in Bekasi city, is still blackish and has a pungent smell due to water pollution.

Siti, a local resident living close to the river, said she was happy that the sea of trash had been cleaned up.  

“After the clean-up, the access road we use is still muddy, which makes it quite slippery. Heavy dump trucks also caused a few of the roads to crack and they need to be repaired now,” she added.

The Bekasi regency administration has installed a net over the river to stop trash floating downstream from Bekasi city.

“It is now the responsibility of the administrations to clean up their own garbage,” Dodi said. (sau)