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Bogor villages suffer amid soaring demand for sand to build homes, roads in Jakarta, Banten
The trucks transport construction materials to neighboring areas, predominantly to Tangerang in Banten and Jakarta, to supply government infrastructure projects and commercial housing developments.
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Drivers park their trucks on the side of the road in Gunung Sindur, Bogor, West Java, on Nov. 24, waiting to distribute sand and rocks to Tangerang, Banten, and Jakarta. Residents have complained about the inconvenience caused by the mining trucks, which includes traffic congestion, air pollution, and at worst, casualties. (JP/Budi Sutrisno)
T
he blazing Sunday sun beat down upon Parung Panjang village in Bogor regency, West Java, where a middle-aged woman called Fatimah was tidying up the house, secretly hiding her sorrow for the loss of her nephew, whose body had been crushed by a truck carrying rocks from local sand mines.
“It was about two years ago and her mother is still in grief, not ready to talk to anyone about him. It has been a wound for us,” Fatimah told The Jakarta Post, adding that the family was still seeking justice for then-eighth-grader Farhan.
For more than five decades, dozens of trucks carrying rocks and sand from mining sites in Parung Panjang in Gunung Sindur district and Rumpin village in the district of the same name in Bogor have been passing through small roads in nearby villages every day.
The activities have angered residents as they cause frequent casualties, traffic congestion and road damage as a result of excessive tonnage. Moreover, the dust has polluted the air, causing many to suffer from respiratory infections.
When the Post arrived on Sunday, one side of a major section of Jl. Raya Atma Asnawi, where Farhan’s accident took place, was under repair as it had been heavily damaged, leaving only one lane available for vehicles to take turns passing back and forth.
After Farhan’s incident in January last year, hundreds of Gunung Sindur residents crowded the road to block every mining truck that passed, and later wrote a letter signed by around 200 people who demanded the local government ban mining trucks from crossing the area.
Protests also often occur in other districts including Parung Panjang, where a mining truck, which always used the only street, Jl. Muhammad Toha, ran over a high school student last month, leaving the victim severely injured.
