F-PKB DKI Urges Pramono to Maximize RDF Targets in accordance with its Development Plan

Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) Plant Rorotan facilities located in North Jakarta/DOK via ANTARA

JAKARTA - Chairman of the PKB Faction of the DKI Jakarta DPRD, M. Fuadi Luthfi, assessed that Governor Pramono Anung's statement that the target of 1,000 tons per day at the Rorotan RDF Plant was "already very good" was actually an indirect recognition of the government's failure to manage the project worth Rp. 1.28 trillion.

The facility, which was initially designed to process 2,500 tons of waste per day, is now only running or even only targeted to run at 40 percent of its capacity, more than a year after it was supposed to be fully operational.

"The simple analogy is, if we buy a car for Rp. 1.28 trillion and the car can only run 40 percent of the speed promised, is that good enough? That statement is not good news. It is an admission that something is wrong, and the government chooses to frame it as an achievement," said Fuadi, Monday, March 9.

Fuadi said there were three layers of failure that were interrelated in the management of this project. First, the failure of technical planning. The RDF technology was built to process sorted and relatively dry waste, but the Jakarta waste that came to Rorotan was still mixed with wet. As a result, the machine works twice, sorting and processing at the same time and the results are far from optimal. This is the consequence of the decision to build downstream technology without preparing a sorting system upstream.

Second, the failure of contract supervision. The entire contract value of Rp. 1.28 trillion has been disbursed, but the facility has not operated according to the specifications promised. The manager has repeatedly violated SOP, but no contractual sanctions have been announced to the public. Third, the failure of communication to residents. The community around Rorotan as an affected community, there is no honest and proactive information mechanism from the beginning, as a preventive measure.

"The three failures are not coincidental. It is a reflection of a project that from the beginning was not managed seriously. It was built in a hurry, paid in full in advance, and then when there were problems, the public was asked to be patient," he said.

Fuadi asked the public to pay attention to the numbers that speak for themselves. Jakarta produces 7,400-8,000 tons of garbage every day. With an operation of 1,000 tons, the Rorotan RDF only handles about 12-13 percent of the total garbage in the capital, far from the initial target which was designed to cut 30 percent of the Bantargebang load.

Meanwhile, the investment cost per ton of actually functioning capacity has doubled and a half from the promised one. And Bantargebang, which is already as high as a 16-story building with a contract that expires this year, has no luxury of time to wait.

"This is not about impatience. This is about the fact that we have run out of space in Bantargebang, the contract expires this year, and the only large processing facility we have in the city can only run 40 percent. Jakarta residents have the right to know: what will their garbage be?" he said.

Fuadi emphasized that this condition further strengthens the urgency of the formation of a Special Committee in the DPRD to investigate the Rorotan RDF project in depth.

The committee, said Fuadi, must explicitly encourage forensic audits that trace the appropriateness between contract specifications, technical realization, and budget use, including tracing why the ITF Sunter PLTSa project, which has the status of a National Strategic Project, was canceled and replaced by RDF Rorotan without adequate explanation to the DPRD and the public.

He also urged the Provincial Government to immediately open complete data: the realization of daily capacity, the volume of RDF that has been produced and handed over to Indocement, as well as the status of the guarantee of the implementation of Rp. 64 billion which is suspected not to have been extended.

"The governor today indirectly admitted that this facility has not run as promised to the people. A special committee must be formed, a forensic audit must be carried out, and the public has the right to know how much they can actually get from the Rp. 1.28 trillion that has been spent," said Fuadi.