Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post 10 Jul 09;
The Tangerang administration is likely to collaborate in a garbage management system at the Ciangir waste processing plan with the Jakarta administration after the former administration conducts a comparative study in Singapore.
"Seeing is believing. We have to obtain enough information about garbage processing systems with zero waste that Singapore have been applying," Tangerang regent Ismet Iskandar said Thursday.
Therefore, the administration has sent a team to Singapore to conduct a comparative study of several waste processing plants in Singapore.
Ismet said the team comprising the head of Tangerang's Sanitation and Parks Agency, Herry Heryanto, the head of the development planning body, Benyamin Davnie, and several other officials departed for Singapore Thursday amid protests voiced by Ciangir residents.
According to Ismet, the team will see directly how the Singaporean government burns its rubbish with incinerators.
Ismet said the Tangerang regency is still considering a cooperative agreement with the Jakarta administration to jointly build an integrated waste processing plant in Ciangir village, Legok district.
"There are so many aspects that we need to consider carefully regarding the short and long term environmental impacts that may arise, before we enter a cooperative agreement with Jakarta," Ismet said.
Pollution will be inevitable, the health of residents living along the road near the plant may also be put at risk as garbage trucks always leave dust and putrid smells in their wake, not to mention road safety concerns for the locals with all the passing trucks.
Residents of Ciangir village said they opposed the plan.
"The administration should have involved the locals in the decision making on the planned integrated waste processing plant because the plant will directly affect their lives," Suherdi, head of the village said.
He said community members should have had the final say.
"The decision of whether or not the garbage processing plant can be built here should not be in the hands of the administration officials, regardless of whether they conduct a comparative study in Singapore. It *the decision* must be made by the residents," he emphasized.
Muhamad Parta, the chairman of the village representative body said the administration should also involve at least two of the village representatives in the comparative study.
"Why not? We need to know what waste management systems the administration intends to apply in Ciangir,"
