Triwik Kurniasari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Environmental impact assessments (Amdal) are still not being enforced, with rivers becoming increasingly polluted while many industries do not properly treat their waste, environmentalists said Wednesday.
Industrial firms believe Amdal is only an administrative formality, said Hasbi Azis from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment's (Walhi) Jakarta chapter.
"It (Amdal) has not been applied properly. Only 10 percent of 200 industrial companies in Jakarta have waste treatment facilities," Hasbi said during a dialogue at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) office on Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta.
"Besides that, there are 54 factories expelling hazardous waste with no Amdal. The factories dump their waste into the city's rivers. And this doesn't count the waste dumped by hospitals in the city," he said.
According to the Walhi research division, 90 percent of hospitals in Jakarta dispose of their waste at public dumps, he said.
"This kind of waste should be separated from other waste because it is very dangerous. The administration should provide a special dump and treatment facility for hospital waste so it doesn't harm people," he said.
Hasbi also criticized the Jakarta Environmental Management Board (BPLHD) and the State Ministry for the Environment for not taking strict action against industrial firms disobeying the environment law.
"BPLHD has the authority to take stern measures against alleged polluters who do not build waste treatment facilities."
Hermien Roosita from the State Ministry for the Environment said there had been many Amdal violations, but it was not easy to take the cases to court.
"It is the police who investigate and take the cases to the attorney's offices. If they stop the investigation, there is nothing we can do nothing about it," Hermien said.
She said the ministry was also drafting a revision of the 2007 law on environmental management to improve law enforcement.
"In the draft, both industrial firms and officers face sanctions if they disobeyed the law on Amdal.
"Industrialists risk a six-month jail sentence and Rp 1 billion (US$94,000) fine, while the officers face a minimum two-year jail sentence and a Rp 100 million fine," Hermien said.
"We hope the revised law will effectively solve disputes over environmental pollution between industrial firms, the administration and residents."
Walhi faces obstacles every time it tries to resolve environmental disputes at court, Hasbi said.
"We receive more than 100 environmental complaints every year, but we fail to win the cases. We have difficulty obtaining evidence," he said.
"Once we were in court and the prosecutor nullified our evidence, including photographs and video recordings, by saying it was not enough to prove the allegation," he said, adding that there was a lack of environmental understanding among law enforcers.
"The government should hold routine training on the environment for officers at district attorney's offices and the attorney general's office."
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