BEKASI, KOMPAS – The controversy over Jakarta dumping its waste in Bekasi, West Java, has reemerged yet again. The Bekasi administration has called for a review of the two cities’ waste management agreement, as transporting Jakarta’s waste to the Bantar Gebang Integrated Waste Disposal Site posed a hazard to residents along the route.
The administration has therefore proposed that the Jakarta-Bantar Gebang route via the West Bekasi toll road be free of garbage trucks. "From the decision of the evaluation meeting, the toll road will be sterilized as soon as possible," Bekasi Transportation Agency head Yayan Yuliana said on Thursday (18/10/2018).
Yayan said that too many garbage trucks plied the West Bekasi toll road, citing figures that 60 of 100 vehicles on the toll road were garbage trucks. "Residents complain about the smell and dust, as well as road damage," said Yayan.
Moreover, the agency found that the garbage trucks from Jakarta frequently did not possess the appropriate vehicle documentation. Yayan also said that several dump trucks were not equipped with a cover system or were covered, but not properly. The garbage trucks frequently leaked leachate and spread unpleasant odors.
Limiting trucks
The Bekasi Transportation Agency deployed officers on Wednesday (17/10/2018) to intercept 25 garbage trucks at the West Bekasi tollgate. On Thursday, agency officers continued to monitor garbage trucks along the route. Many truck drivers had instead taken a different route through Cibubur and Jatiasih.
Agus, a garbage truck driver, told Kompas that the Cibubur and Jatiasih routes were free from interception by the agency’s officers. "The Jatiasih route is safe at the moment, as the West Bekasi toll road is not allowed for use [by garbage trucks]," he said.
Bekasi Deputy Mayor Tri Adhianto called for a review of the waste management cooperation agreement between Bekasi and Jakarta. Tri said the Jakarta administration had not met several conditions in the agreement.
The agreement did not only cover the disposal of Jakarta’s waste at the Bantar Gebang dump, but also the cooperation between the Bekasi and Jakarta administrations. “If one party fails to meet the requirements of the agreement, the cooperation can be changed,” he said.
Tri said the agreement established a parallel partnership, so Jakarta must also pay attention to Bekasi’s issues, including infrastructure, health, community services and education.
Waste distribution
Responding to the matter, Jakarta Environmental Agency Isnawa Adji said that Jakarta was attempting to redistribute its waste disposal, as reducing its fleet of garbage trucks could cause waste to accumulate in the capital.
"We have to rearrange the daily deployment of 1,300 garbage trucks because routes through certain areas have been closed. We will maximize passage points along certain routes," he said.
Isnawa said he had instructed truck drivers to adhere to Bekasi’s rules. "We will obey the rule for trucks to pass through West Bekasi from 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.," he said.
Odor pollution
Separately, Commission A secretary Solihin of the Bekasi Legislative Council (DPRD) said that one of the key issues was Jakarta’s failure to fulfill its promise to provide financial assistance. "This year, the Bekasi administration requested a grant of about Rp 500 billion for road infrastructure development from the Jakarta ddministration, but not all [terms] were met," he said.
Solihin said the agreement was detrimental to Bekasi residents, who had been disturbed by the garbage trucks. Aside from the financial assistance, Jakarta had also violated the waste tonnage limit. "According to the agreement, the tonnage of garbage from Jakarta is restricted to 3,000 tons per day, but the amount of garbage in a single day could reach 7,000 tons," he said.
The Jakarta administration has paid Rp 194 billion to Bekasi this year, after verifying the Rp 202 billion Bekasi had originally requested. In 2019, Jakarta is obligated to pay Rp 141 billion as compensation for odor pollution. Jakarta Governance Bureau head Premi Lasari said that Bekasi had also submitted a proposal requesting Rp 1 trillion for acquiring land and developing two flyovers.
"We provided recommendations for partnership funding assistance. At the May 2018 meeting, we asked the Bekasi administration to complete its proposal with planning and technical documents," she said.
The bureau was evaluating and deliberated the completed proposal, which it had just received on Monday. "Later, [the proposal] will be discussed with the Financial Assistance Coordination Team and the Regional Government Budgetary Team before it is forwarded to the DPRD," Premi said. (E21/ IRE/ HLN)