PEKANBARU - Piles of garbage can be seen lining up everywhere in Pekanbaru city, dirty and spreading a foul smell. This has happened since December 2020 or since the contracts with third parties in waste management ended.

The Pekanbaru City Environment and Sanitation Service (DLHK) stated that they had added waste-collector vehicles and have started cleaning up, but in reality, the garbage was still piling up.

Riau Provincial DPRD member, Ade Hartati, criticized the City Government of Pekanbaru for resisting that waste management must be given to a third party, according to the mandate of the law.

"Who says it must? The city government should involve the community, from the neighbourhood to the village head, and it is not prohibited by law," said Ade Hartati.

According to Ade Hartati, if the city government does not want to involve the community and requires management through a third party, this will raise a question: What is going on?

"In the past, during the leadership of Herman Abdullah, Pekanbaru won Adipura many times, now it's full of garbage," said Ade.

Ade regretted the attitude of the city government which is considered too slow in handling the waste problem and taking cover behind the law.

According to Ade, waiting for a third party tender process is a waste of time and budget.

"In Herman Abdullah's era, the community was involved, the waste was managed by the community, coordinated by the local village head and community unit. The result was the Adipura awards that we got," he said.**/ye