SUNS4371 Wednesday 10 February 1999

Environment: Singapore, Indonesia in waste dispute

Singapore, Feb 9 (IPS/Mohan Srilal) -- The story told by an Indonesian company seemed too good to be true: Singapore was not only going to give landfill to help in mangrove growing in an Indonesian island, it
would also pay Indonesia more than two dollars for each cubic metre it "donated".

Indonesians should have been more than happy to accept the offer, since it would mean millions of dollars for their cash-strapped country.

But suspicions were soon raised after the story broke in the Indonesian media, and now state authorities in both countries are on the defensive.

Environmentalists say the Singaporean dirt is toxic and that the island state's dumping of it on Indonesia flouts the Basel Convention that bars the transport of hazardous waste substances.

"Waste is always dirty," observes Indonesia's former environment minister Emil Salim. "For whatever reason, there must be a strong assumption that the wastes contain B3 (toxins)".

Though Indonesian media have been carrying the story since August, the news surfaced in the press here only this month when Singapore's Environment Ministry (ENV) issued a strong denial in response to reports on the deal in Indonesia's leading newspapers 'Jakarta Post' and 'Kompas'.

Indonesian newspapers say a local company, PT Media Kertaraharja, which has strong links to the office of the Coordinating Ministry of Political Affairs and Security, has signed a deal with Singapore to import 15 million cubic metres of waste earth from excavations for a new underground rail system.

The deal was allegedly facilitated by an agreement between Indonesia's Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) and Singapore's ENV.

Indonesia's Antara news agency also reported this month that the Singapore material is meant to rehabilitate coastal woodlands in the bay of Pelambung in Karimum island in Indonesia's Riau province, which
is just an hour by ferry from here.

PT Media Kertaraharja director Aldy Maljoto told the 'Jakarta Post' that Singapore has to export the soil to Indonesia because the island-state could not use it as coastal reclamation medium.

Interestingly enough, the Indonesian media in recent years has reported that Singapore has been importing sand from Indonesia to reclaim its coastal line.

Aldy said the Singapore soil would be used to rehabilitate 500 hectares of degraded coastline in Karimum Island. He described the soil medium offered as clay of the "sub-soil" dug out from Singapore's MRT (Mass
Rail Transport) project.

Singapore, he added, was even going to shoulder the importation costs, aside from giving its neighbour more than two dollars for each cubic metre of soil it accepted.

But the deal is being portrayed as a dirty one by many Indonesian activists.

Says Emmy Hafild of the Indonesian Forum on Environment: "The deal tarnishes the nation's pride. Apart from the question of whether or not it is toxic, or that it was previously said to be marine clay and now
it's soil dug out from MRT's project ... the government has been unwise."

In an environmental seminar in Jakarta, former minister Emil seemed to give credence to the media reports by claiming that Riau province's administration had designated one of its islands as waste "accommodation" site and that Singapore had paid billions of rupiah in compensation for the use of the island.

The importation of the Singaporean material was supposed to begin this month. Singaporean officials were largely silent on the issue until now, when they are going full throttle in denying all the allegations raised in the Indonesian media.

"These allegations are not true," said an ENV spokesman last week. "We have adequate facilities in Singapore to cater for the disposal of excavated material and marine clay from our development projects."

Construction of MRT stations and tunnels for a new extension to the underground rail system will result in about 8.5 million cubic metres of earth being dug up. Since tiny Singapore has more than four million
people already crammed into high-rise buildings, disposal of such waste may pose a problem.

The MRT excavation work began last year and is expected to end later this year. The ENV says all excavated earth and marine clay are disposed of at the Lorong Halus landfill on the mainland here or at designated sites off the Singapore coast, but still within the republic's territorial waters.

The ENV has declared that it will not hesitate to take strong action against anyone trying to export toxic waste to Indonesia and that it will assist Indonesian authorities in enforcing stringent action against any such trade by private companies.

Still, the Singaporean government agency admits that Bapedal last year had raised the idea of importing excavated material from here. But the ENV stressed that no agreement was reached.

Indonesian newspapers, however, say Bapedal had approved a $60 million deal to import earth and marine clay from Singapore. Media reports also say earth excavated from the MRT project has already been dumped in Karimum as early as last November, and even noted that the barge that supposedly carried the cargo returned to Singapore empty.

Singapore's 'Strait Times' newspaper, meanwhile, says this vessel left Singapore with scrap metal and wood in November for another Indonesian island and has yet to return. But the Singaporean daily did report that
the company that owns the barge confirmed that it had purchased the vessel precisely to transport marine clay from Singapore to Karimum.

An ENV spokesman says so far, no Singapore company has been given any permits to export any excavated material or marine clay to Indonesia. He adds that the Marine and Port Authority here had not given any
approval for any vessel to export excavated material or marine clay to Karimum.

"We have requested that the Indonesian Embassy provide evidence of the allegation to enable us to conduct a thorough investigation," says the spokesman. "To date, we have not heard from the Indonesian Embassy."