Heru Budi's Subordinates Confirm ITF Is Not Canceled, Only Not Prioritized

Waste management facilities for Lindfill Mining and RDF Plant at the Bantargebang Integrated Waste Disposal Site (TPST), Bekasi, West Java, Tuesday (6/9/2022).

Head of the DKI Jakarta Environmental Agency, Asep Kuswanto, emphasized that his party did not cancel the plan to build waste processing into electricity, the Intermediate Treatment Facility (ITF) Sunter.

This denied the statement by the Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono that the construction of the Sunter ITF was canceled because he did not have funding.

Asep explained, ITF is now only not prioritized to be implemented. The DKI Provincial Government prefers to continue the construction of the Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) as a means of processing Jakarta waste.

The first RDF has been operating at the location of the Bantargebang Integrated Waste Disposal Site (TPST), Bekasi. Furthermore, the DKI Provincial Government plans to rebuild 2 RDFs in Rorotan in North Jakarta and Pegadungan in West Jakarta.

"(ITF Sunter) was not canceled. However, the DKI Provincial Government is currently focusing more on RDF," Asep told reporters, Wednesday, July 26.

The DKI Jakarta Provincial Government has actually allocated a budget of IDR 577 billion from the 2023 APBD as the initial capital for the Sunter ITF work. However, Sunter's ITF work this year was canceled.

Asep views that the construction to the operation of RDF Plant is more efficient than ITF. That is why the DKI Provincial Government continues to build a waste processing system into coal equivalent energy.

"The RDF is considered the most suitable for the current DKI Provincial Government, because in terms of cheaper investment financing, cheaper operational costs, faster development. Then, we can sell the proceeds to cement factories," explained Asep.

"If the ITF is indeed built, it will take three years. The investment alone can be four times greater than the RDF. The operational costs are also much higher," he added.

Some time ago, the Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono decided to cancel the construction of the ITF in Sunter, North Jakarta.

In fact, the construction of the Sunter ITF was carried out by the Governor of DKI Jakarta last period, before finally stagnant. Heru felt that the Sunter ITF project was too burdensome for the APBD.

"Yes (ITF Sunter canceled). We can't afford it, yes," said Heru when met at TPST Bantargebang, Bekasi, West Java, Tuesday, July 27.

Heru explained that the investment value for the Sunter ITF development reached IDR 5.2 trillion. This project clearly requires investors from the private sector for funding.

What is burdensome is that when the Sunter ITF operates, the DKI Provincial Government must pay the cost of waste management or tipping fees to investors of around Rp. 500 thousand per tonne of waste processing within a period of 20 to 30 years.

The calculation is that if an agreement with investors is made, the DKI Provincial Government must pay a total corruption fee of Rp. 36.5 trillion. That too with a record that this value does not increase as long as the contract runs.

"The DKI Regional Government does not want to. The concept (ITF Sunter) is good. But, once again, the DKI Regional Government is unable to pay the tipping fee," explained Heru