Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The foul smell emanating from rotting garbage piled up along Bandung's roadsides started to diminish Friday but it was still there.
Bandung has turned into a city of garbage in the past month, an image it is working hard to change with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono set to arrive there Saturday on an official visit to observe National Awakening Day.
But the cleanup pledged by Bandung Mayor Dada Rosada that started to intensify this week, was mostly conducted on special routes where the President is planning to pass.
Some of the garbage on the city's roadsides, reaching as high as five meters in some areas, has started to be taken to a temporary dumping site in Pasirluyu area.
But much of it has been left to rot as the temporary dumping site can only accommodate 1,200 cubic meters of garbage, while the Bandung City Sanitation Office estimates there is up to 200,000 cubic meters on the roadsides.
"When we're hosting a guest, we have to cleanup, it's the same in Tegallega...," Dada said, playing down suspicions the cleanup was only conducted to please the President.
The city's real problem in finding a final dumping site has not been resolved. An "emergency" meeting was held Friday and attended by West Java Governor Danny Setiawan, Dada Rosada and Cimahi Mayor Itoc Tochija to find a long-term solution to the problem.
The provincial administration also invited officials from Bandung regency, Garut and Sumedang to assist in finding land for a final dumping site, which has been nonexistent following the closure of Leuwigajah dump in South Cimahi. The dump was closed after the collapse of a mound of garbage in 2005 that killed more than 100 people.
The governor gave the mayor three months to find the city a permanent dumping site.
Dada said starting Saturday, the waste would be dumped at a temporary site in Pasirbajing, Garut. A resident there, he said, has agreed to rent 12 hectares of land to accommodate garbage sent from Bandung city at the cost of Rp 550 million (US$60,349) for three months. "We've requested security from Bandung and Garut Military commands," Dada told the governor.
He said the security personnel were necessary since many Pasirbajing residents were opposed to the idea of their area being turned into a dumping site. The Leuwigajah tragedy is still fresh in their minds and they were concerned over possible air and water pollution.
Yoseph Sumarno, the commissioner of PT Brill which is assigned by the mayor to take care of Bandung's garbage problem, complained that they had been rejected in many locations earlier selected as dumping sites. "Since September 2005 we've been left hanging. We can't start managing the waste since it is hard to find a dumping site," Yoseph said.