Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Consistent with their firm objection to the operation of a waste treatment plant in their area, hundreds of residents of Bojong in Klapanunggal district, Bogor, West Java, erected on Sunday a wall to block the only road into the plant.
Some 500 residents arrived at the area at around 9 a.m. and immediately started putting up a 13-meter-wide and 45-centimeter-high wall in front of the plant's main gate to make sure that no truck could enter the plant.
"We collected construction materials from the residents. We hope we can finish erecting by the afternoon. The wall shows that we will do anything to stop the plant from operating in our neighborhood," local resident Suhari told The Jakarta Post.
The plant, constructed in 2003, is meant to incinerate one-third of Jakarta's daily waste of 6,000 tons. The plant would reduce Jakarta's dependence on Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi, West Java.
However, Bojong residents have repeatedly held rallies and put up blockades to stop the construction and trial run of the plant.
The last time the dump operator attempted a trial run of the equipment in the facility on Nov. 22, 2004, residents gathered outside the plant to protest against the use of the dump due to the harmful impact on the health of residents in the surrounding area.
The protest soon turned violent and several people had to be hospitalized for their injuries. Twenty-four police were reprimanded for using unnecessary force to quell the protest, and 18 Bojong residents were jailed for causing damage to the dump.
Since then, the Jakarta administration has looked into the possibility of setting up waste treatment plants in the capital and on Friday it announced that it had short-listed five companies, including foreign firms, to carry out waste treatment projects. The five firms were Keppel Seghers Group with its local partner PT Azara Putra Perkasa, Jakarta Renewable Energy, Kwarta Daya Pratama, Enviro Green and Sapta Krida.
Members of the Bogor Regency Council have said that they would prefer the dump to suspend its operations and, if possible, find a new site.
A special team of the House of Representatives had also recommended the closure of the plant as its presence violates land zoning regulations. The team said the construction of the site had violated Bogor Bylaw No. 27/1998 stipulating that the area in question is a zoned as a residential, tourism and agricultural area.
Subsequently, State Minister of the Environment Rachmat Witoelar told the House of Representatives that the trial should not proceed. He said that a joint team of experts from his office, the Office of the State Ministry for Research and Technology and the Jakarta administration had recommended the operations be shelved.
The team was assigned to determine the feasibility of the plant, including studying the impact analysis and problems in the field.
Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) activist Erwin Usman, who has accompanied the residents in their rallies, said that the building of the wall was aimed at sending a clear signal to the government that residents would not allow the dump site to be made operational. "The dump site clearly violates the law. We just want the government to enforce the law. The residents want the plant to be stopped permanently," he said.