Jatiwaringin Landfill, Tangerang Regency Government Prepares 2-hectare Land for Temporary Disposal

JAKARTA - The Tangerang Regency Government (Pemkab) Tangerang, Banten, is preparing to open two hectares of new land to be used as a temporary waste disposal service location, in addition to the fire extinguishing process at the Jatiwaringin landfill which is still ongoing.

"Waste disposal from the Tangerang Regency areas is still normal. We have prepared two hectares of land to be occupied temporarily," said Tangerang Regent Moch Maesyal Rasyid as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, July 7.

Entering the 8th day of controlling the TPAJatiwaringin fire, he said, it was ensured that waste transportation was still running normally, with around 1,200 tons of waste per day being temporarily diverted to a new location that has now been prepared.

"But if this is completed, we will normalize the land again, we will clean it up again and the garbage has been prepared in places that must welcome the processing of electrical energy waste," he said.

In addition, the Tangerang Regency Government has coordinated with regional level institutions to the relevant ministries regarding the future of waste management, which is planned as one of the strategic project loci for waste processing based on modern technology, which will later be converted into electricity.

His party hopes that the TPA fire incident can accelerate the realization of the project for more sustainable environmental management.

"I have met several times with the governor, the Minister of LH, and the Minister of Food and Agriculture. Alhamdulillah, Tangerang Regency is one of the locations that will be used as a waste processing site based on or as electrical energy," he said.

He conveyed the results of the evaluation in controlling the emergency fire at the Jatiwaringin landfill, Mauk, to ensure that the handling was carried out according to the target.

Based on the results of the evaluation, several areas that have been hit by fire are observed to be clean. This success is said to be the result of intensive coordination with the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) and the rapid action of the Manggala Agni team which works tirelessly.

"Wednesday (1/7) the extinguishing team came here at night. In the morning at 06.00 WIB they started working. And indeed it was from morning, afternoon, night that they worked at the location. The location is fluctuating, there is nothing flat, it goes straight up. So this is extraordinary from Manggala Agni, we say thank you very much. And this has also yielded good results," he explained.

Currently, some of the fire points have been extinguished, but the strong wind conditions are the biggest challenge for the joint team in the field.

"To reach the middle and top areas of the garbage hill that are difficult to access by land vehicles, the Tangerang Regency relies on the assistance of a helicopter water bombing from BNPB which has been operating for the past five days," he said.

Meanwhile, BNPB reported that the stage of fire extinguishing in the TPAJatiwaringin area on Tuesday (7/7) had reached 50 percent of the total affected land area of 18 hectares.

"Yesterday I reported 45 percent. And now almost 50 percent of the land fire we control. Because we have targeted the west of the Jatiwaringin landfill," said BNPB Emergency Operation Control Coordination Director Brigadier General TNI Djohan Darmawan.

He said that the 50 percent figure for controlling the fire points at the Jatiwaringin landfill was also accompanied by a 70 percent level of cleanliness in the affected area.

Djohan revealed the difficulty of officers in reaching the fire point because the burned land was filled with complex materials such as plastic and asbestos.

"The decomposition method is that heavy equipment such as bulldozers and excavators are deployed to sweep and dismantle the pile of garbage that is still emitting smoke," he said.