Oleh: Dipl.-Ing (TU). Muhammar Khamdevi, ST

Telah banyak berita-berita yang dikabarkan di media-media mengenai banyaknya permasalahan lingkungan Kota Bandung, terutama di koran-koran. Tersebut masalah sampah, air sungai dan hutan kota, yang cukup sering diangkat menjadi headline-headline penting. Berita-berita tersebut tak jarang membuat kita miris, dan sering tersimpul kekecewaan atas kinerja pihak-pihak terkait, terutama pemerintah kota.

Namun sayangnya, tindakan kita hanya sebatas itu adanya. Setelah kita meletakkan koran, lalu keluar dari rumah kita, tidak ada perubahan yang berarti. Pada saat kita berjalan di pinggir jalan, seperti hilang perhatian kita tentang lingkungan. Padahal di sana-sini terlihat jelas sampah di mana-mana, trotoar yang rusak kepul-kepulan polusi menyesakkan dan pohon-pohon jalan yang tidak terawat. Seakan keadaan sekitar di depan mata hanya penampakan biasa saja.

Aneh! Sepertinya apapun solusinya akan permasalahan Kota Bandung, tidak akan ada pengaruhnya sama sekali, jika kita masih tetap tidak bergeming untuk memulai merubahnya. Padahal tiap individu memiliki dayanya masing-masing. Padahal sekecil apapun itu, pengaruhnya amat besar sekali, jika kita mau mengerjakannya.
Read the rest of this entry »

Erwida Maulia ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 07/16/2009 9:19 AM  |  National

The government and lawmakers have been urged to reevaluate the regional autonomy policy, which in 10 years has led to the creation of more than 200 new regions which have not always improved conditions for local communities.

The executive director of the Regional Administration Innovation Foundation (YIPD), Alit Merthayasa, on Wednesday said the creation of new regions, while drawing money from the central government, inevitably led to a reduction in the amount of funds disbursed to existing regions.

“New autonomous regions need large sums of money to finance infrastructure, public facilities and government offices, and to pay the salaries of new regional heads and their staff, and councilors. Read the rest of this entry »

Aditya Suharmoko ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 07/15/2009 4:28 PM  |  Business

Indonesia and France signed an agreement Wednesday for a grant worth 690,000 euros (about US$1 million) for consultancy services related to the integrated public transportation master plan for Bandung’s metropolitan area.

Finance Ministry’s director general of debt management Rahmat Waluyanto and French Ambassador to Indonesia Philippe Zeller signed the agreement on behalf of the two countries.

Zeller expects the grant to help solve traffic problems in Bandung.

“I was very surprised by the traffic in Bandung, and it is worse at weekends as people are coming from Jakarta,” Zeller said.

He said the grant was initiated a few years ago to develop economic relations, particularly on public resources.

Yuli Tri Suwarni ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Bandung   |  Thu, 05/14/2009 2:17 PM  |  The Archipelago

With the recent construction of a toll connecting Jakarta to Bandung, and cheap international flights from Malaysia, the West Java capital is busier than ever, but not everyone is happy.

The Cikampek - Purwakarta - Padalarang turnpike, better known as “Cipularang”, has virtually turned Purwakarta into a ghost town and disrupted the Jakarta-Bandung railway service.

However, Bandung municipality and many of its residents are really thankful for the 146-km road which opened for use in May 2005, since it has given a boost to food, tourism and clothing industries, and indirectly generates hundreds of billions of rupiah in added revenues on weekends alone.

Since the old Puncak-Purwakarta route has been left much quieter, and because of Bandung’s reputation as a tourist city, many traditional food vendors have relocated to rest areas next to the new turnpike. Read the rest of this entry »

Yuli Tri Suwarni ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Bandung   |  Wed, 05/06/2009 9:20 AM  |  The Archipelago

At least 15 people were wounded, including a television reporter who sustained a concussion, in a clash between local residents and law and order officers attempting to clear a 1,800 square-meter plot of land in Babakan Ciparay, Bandung, on Tuesday.

The residents, who were backed by members of the Anti-Apostasy Movement Alliance, threw stones and other projectiles at the officers.

The dozens of officers were not anticipating the resistance and were not equipped with the equipment needed to face the angry residents. Some retreated.

Police officers, armed with helmets, shields and batons, could not subdue the residents and took cover behind an excavator.

The angry residents attacked Norman, the driver of the excavator, causing minor wounds.

The excavator’s windows were broken by the residents.

Eight residents and seven officers were wounded, mostly on the head, hands and legs, in the exchange of projectiles. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jonathan Wootliff* (Tue, 04/28/2009)

Why can we not rely on government to look after the environmental welfare of this nation?

Indonesia is suffocating under growing mountains of garbage. Faced with growing urban populations and the increasing use of plastic bottles, bags, aluminum cans and the like, the country is struggling to keep up with the alarming levels of mounting waste.

“If we wait for the government to provide everything - all the sanitation services - the government will wait for decades,” says Yuyun Ismawati, director of Indonesian NGO BaliFokus.

The lack of adequate, safe and sustainable waste management is one of the most critical environmental challenges facing Indonesia. There is a lack of adequate municipal infrastructure, including proper sanitary landfills and recycling facilities.

This has led to pervasive environmental problems and health risks, especially for communities living close to open waste dumps and for poor urban settlements without organized waste management systems.

The traditional Indonesian practice of using palm leaves and other plants for storing and serving food allowed for easy disposal and composting of garbage. With the influx of plastics and other non-biodegradable products, Indonesia’s waste management problems have worsened.

In Jakarta, authorities have been known to dump untreated garbage near fish farms, killing thousands of fish in ponds that local people depend upon for their livelihood. In Bandung, West Java, a 70-meter-high open garbage dump famously collapsed in 2005, tragically taking the lives of 147 people. Read the rest of this entry »