An employee walking along a thermal pipe at the Kamojang geothermal
power plant near Garut, West Java, on March 18. State utility provider
 Perusahaan Listrik Negara is targeting an additional 135 megawatts of
electricity from three new geothermal plants. (Reuters Photo/Beawiharta)
 

"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,.. etc.)
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“.. Nuclear Power Revealed

So let me tell you what else they did. They just showed you what's wrong with nuclear power. "Safe to the maximum," they said. "Our devices are strong and cannot fail." But they did. They are no match for Gaia.

It seems that for more than 20 years, every single time we sit in the chair and speak of electric power, we tell you that hundreds of thousands of tons of push/pull energy on a regular schedule is available to you. It is moon-driven, forever. It can make all of the electricity for all of the cities on your planet, no matter how much you use. There's no environmental impact at all. Use the power of the tides, the oceans, the waves in clever ways. Use them in a bigger way than any designer has ever put together yet, to power your cities. The largest cities on your planet are on the coasts, and that's where the power source is. Hydro is the answer. It's not dangerous. You've ignored it because it seems harder to engineer and it's not in a controlled environment. Yet, you've chosen to build one of the most complex and dangerous steam engines on Earth - nuclear power.

We also have indicated that all you have to do is dig down deep enough and the planet will give you heat. It's right below the surface, not too far away all the time. You'll have a Gaia steam engine that way, too. There's no danger at all and you don't have to dig that far. All you have to do is heat fluid, and there are some fluids that boil far faster than water. So we say it again and again. Maybe this will show you what's wrong with what you've been doing, and this will turn the attitudes of your science to create something so beautiful and so powerful for your grandchildren. Why do you think you were given the moon? Now you know.

This benevolent Universe gave you an astral body that allows the waters in your ocean to push and pull and push on the most regular schedule of anything you know of. Yet there you sit enjoying just looking at it instead of using it. It could be enormous, free energy forever, ready to be converted when you design the methods of capturing it. It's time. …”

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Worker dies in water heater blast

The Jakarta Post | Tue, 06/29/2010 10:50 AM

TANGERANG: One worker died and three others were critically injured on Monday after a giant water heater belonging to PT Pos Prima, a hard paper producer in the Bundar Industrial Plant, Tangerang, exploded.

Cikupa Police chief Insp. Yuli Haryudo identified the dead worker as Arma, 30. The three other workers who were taken to Tangerang General Hospital for serious head wounds were identified as Sugiono, Mulyana and Husirin.

“The coal-fired water heater suddenly exploded at about 1 a.m, and the blast hit the workers,” he said. — JP

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Second-generation biofuel takes off in the Netherlands

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 25 June 2010 - 10:37am | By Rob Kievit



The world's biggest facility for biomethanol production opened in the Dutch city of Delfzijl on Thursday.

It is hoped that increased use of biofuels will reduce CO2 emission from car engines. The biomass used to make the second generation biofuels is no longer based on food crops but on organic waste, removing one of the main objections to the use of biofuels.
It's in your car

Few European drivers are probably aware that they are already burning biofuels. Up to four percent of normal petrol is biofuel, in accordance with an EU directive which came into force in 2005. The proportion will be stepped up to ten percent by 2020. The biofuel does not adversely affect the engine's performance. One biofuel is methanol, a colourless alcohol-like liquid described in chemical terms as CH3OH.

Dutch plant opens

Biofuel company BioMCN converted an old chemical plant, formerly owned by Dutch chemical giant DSM, into a production facility for biomethanol, which is suitable for mixing with traditional petrol and diesel fuel. Producing 250 million litres of methanol per year, it is claimed to be the largest such plant in the world. It opened on Thursday.

"There is a lot of demand, particularly because the fuel we make is produced sustainably," the company's director, Rob Voncken, told NOS TV. BioMCN is supplying a number of major oil companies, and Mr Voncken says he expects to be able to sell as much fuel as the plant can produce. Conveniently situated in the northern seaport city of Delfzijl, the produce can be shipped directly from the factory area to customers.

Peanut butter

The raw material for the process consists of organic waste, left after the manufacture of products such as soap and peanut butter. This contributes significantly to the biofuel's sustainability.

Energy researcher Sascha Kersten of Twente University explains that the Netherlands is well-placed for the biofuels industry: "The Netherlands has a big seaport [Rotterdam] which facilitates the import of the raw materials. We're good at refineries, we're good at logistics. These factors increase our chances of success in the biofuel market of the future."


Related Article:

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Drowning in Garbage, Jakarta Could Look to Taipei for a Clean Example

Jakarta Globe, Heru Andriyanto, June 23, 2010

A garbage collector smoking a cigarette while working at the Bantar Gebang landfill, Bekasi. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)

Taipei. Disposing of garbage hardly sounds like a great time to socialize with friends and neighbors, but a novel approach to waste management in the bustling Taiwanese capital, Taipei, is proving otherwise.

The Taipei metropolitan area, home to 6.7 million people, enforces a “No waste drop” policy that bans residents from littering and encourages them to bring out their garbage to dump trucks.

The mandatory trash policy got off to a slow start, but now most residents, from company executives to market traders to housewives and their Indonesian maids, can be seen out on the curb at night, chatting while waiting for the trucks to come by.

“After coming home from work and having dinner, I get to bring the trash out,” said Taipei native Tommy Lee, who currently works in Jakarta. “I really enjoy the precious few minutes of talking with my neighbors.

“I notice that migrant workers from the Philippines and Indonesia also use the occasion to meet with their friends,” he adds. “Like me, they look a little bit sad when the 9 p.m. truck is gone and the conversations have to end.”

Just a decade ago, Taipei struggled with the problem of littering. In July 2000, the city authorities introduced the “pay as you throw” policy in which residents were charged based on the amount of waste for collection.

They are now required to use only specially designated garbage bags.

Initially, most residents refused to buy these bags, instead using the free plastic bags they accumulated from shopping trips.

Police officers were then assigned to each dump truck to ensure they picked up only the designated trash bags, and residents who did not comply were fined on the spot.

Another problem was that most residents would just leave their garbage bags out on the curb or at pick-up points before leaving for work in the morning.

When the garbage trucks came by at night, there were heaps of reeking trash piled up along the streets.

That led authorities to implement a policy that no trash was allowed to touch the ground.

Residents were thus obliged to personally hand over their trash bags to the truck operators or dispose of their recyclable items in special bins provided by the city.

Sorting out recyclables from regular trash also saves residents money because the volume of the waste collected by the trucks goes down accordingly.

Meanwhile, bulky items such as furniture or tires are collected by different trucks on an appointment basis.

The Taipei authorities continue to tweak the program. Now, kitchen waste is to be collected separately to be used as pig feed or compost.

As for the rest of the garbage, it heads to the massive Beitou incinerator. The facility, sprawled over 10.6 hectares, can process 1,800 tons of waste a day. And it’s hardly a dump.

It has a swimming pool, children’s playground, employees’ dormitory and administration offices.

The main building, which houses the incinerator, is arguable the only one of its kind to boast a revolving restaurant and space observatory near the top of its 150-meter-high stack.

Around 95 percent of the garbage collected from Taipei residents is incinerated, while the rest ends up in a landfill.

Even here, little goes to waste. The incinerator burns the garbage at 1,050 degrees Celsius, and the bottom ash is processed to make paving blocks or bricks.

The results of this decade-long waste-management revolution are evident across the city, which is almost spotlessly free from litter, even in the busy public markets.

The city takes its garbage very seriously. For instance, the authorities have imposed restrictions on plastic shopping bags at supermarkets and other retail outlets, in a bid to limit the amount of non-recyclable waste.

By contrast, Jakarta, home to 13 million people by day, is still struggling to find enough space to dispose of the 6,500 tons of garbage produced each day.

Eko Bharuna, the head of the city’s waste-disposal office, says the authorities may be forced to build a new landfill in neighboring Tangerang to accommodate the ever-increasing waste output that can no longer be handled by the Bantar Gebang landfill in Bekasi.

The city also plans to set up three other landfills in the North Jakarta neighborhoods of Cakung, Sunter and Marunda as part of its 20-year waste-management plan.

However, this ostensibly long-term vision will only provide a short-term solution unless the problem of littering is properly addressed and legislation enacted to fix it.

Setting up new dumps will also invariably incite protests from local residents.

In November 2004, protests in the Bogor area over the planned creation of a landfill there turned violent, and ended with the police shooting and wounding five villagers.

Negotiations for the Tangerang facility began early last year, but the authorities there have stopped short of approving the plan because of protests from residents.

Taipei’s success story suggests it will take more than just throwing money at the problem to fix it.

Effective waste management calls for innovative and far-reaching ideas, public participation, changes in personal habits to stop littering, strong political commitment from both the municipal authorities and the City Council and even coercive legislation.

Jakarta may have the money, but is woefully lacking in everything else.


Related Article:

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Kiss the Grid Goodbye: Power Your Home with a Bloom Box!

Greenopolis

Fuel cells have been a tantilizing technolgy for decades - powering space vehicles, but always a little out of reach for domestic or commercial use. I worked with Greenopolis Partner Plug Power for years - working to provide clean on site energy from hydrogen powered fuel cells. Now there’s the Bloom Box.




That’s not a typo for a new carry-on-your shoulder stereo system. The Bloom Box is a refrigerator-sized box that can power your whole house, store or business.

Bloom Energy is a venture capital funded firm that builds the “Bloom Box”- an appliance sized unit that houses fuel cells running on natural gas, landfill gas, bio-gas or solar power. Fuel cells combine hydrogen with oxygen and emit only heat, electricity and distilled water.

Google has been powering a datacenter with 4 Bloom Boxes running on natural gas for the past year and a half. eBay has 5 of them in San Jose, which they claim have saved them $100,000 in energy costs over the past 9 months.

The Bloom Box debuted on CBS’ 60 Minutes last night.

Is the fuel cell promise finally coming true? Is there a box in your future? Stay tuned, and keep your ear glued to the Bloom Box.

Related Articles:

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Water governance crucial in corruption fight, say experts

Stevie Emilia, The Jakarta Post, Bandung | Tue, 06/22/2010 10:42 AM

Corruption in the water sector hurts the poor most, while discouraging investment and undermining efficient water resource management, experts say.

Michael Hantke-Domas, the honorary associate at UNESCO’s Center for Water Law, Policy and Science at the University of Dundee in Scotland, said Monday that corruption ranges in scale — from petty to grand corruption.

Petty corruption, he said, involves small payments such as those made to help adjust water meters, while grand corruption involves big money, for example in infrastructure projects.

Corruption, he said, could be found on both the supply and demand sides — in the form of preferential treatment, driven by private sector, bribery and fraud in licensing, procurement and construction; and demand for bribes in exchange for services.

“It occurs in resource allocation, procurement and construction, such as diverting funds for a water supply network,” said Hantke-Doma, who is also a senior adviser at Governance, Law & Regulation.

According to a recent study, an estimated 30 percent of international aid agencies’ money spent in different countries was lost to corruption, while another study estimated that in the water sector 30 to 70 percent of funds for water-related projects was lost to corruption.

Hante-Doma was one of the speakers at a five-day international workshop on water governance, held in Bandung, West Java, which was attended by participants from five countries.

The workshop was a jointly funded initiative between UNDP Cap-Net, AguaJaring, IHE Indonesia and CKNet INA. Another expert on water projects, Mohd. Adnan, said when corrupt systems failed to deliver, poor people had few means to enter alternative markets.

“Acting within such a system, poor people, who typically cannot afford to pay bribes, lose out to the ones offering the highest bribes,” said Adnan, a consulting engineer and project manager from Malaysia’s RPM Engineers.

“But corruption is not a natural disaster. It is created, crafted and perfected by those who seek private gain at public expense.” Adnan pointed out that water sector is characterized by a number of factors that increase the likelihood of corruption.

The factors, he said, included the involvement of large-scale construction and monopolies, high demand for water services and technical complexity, which decreases public transparency and leads to an asymmetry of information.

“Corruption causes decisions to be weighed in terms of money, not people’s needs,” he said.

For example, he added, slum water provision, designed for the poorest families, may not be taken into account, while the needs of those who can pay the most are met immediately.

“Because of corruption we lose perspective of what is important for the people,” Adnan said.

Improved integrity, transparency, accountability and anticorruption measures in water lead to better decision making and more effective management, allocation and distribution of water resources and services, said Jap T. L. Yap of the World Bank and IHE Indonesia.

“There is a need to change from a sector-based approach to integrated water resources management to help prevent corrupt practices.”

Monday, June 21, 2010

OZ pledges cash for clean water access, sewerages

The Jakarta Post | Mon, 06/21/2010 10:04 AM
Australia plans to give A$25 million (US$21.7 million) to 29 local governments in Indonesia to increase access to clean water and expand household sewerage connections.

“The local governments are expected to provide a clean water supply service and good sanitation for their communities,” Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said recently.

The 29 regions include Palembang in South Sumatra, Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan, Banjarbaru in South Kalimantan, Pekalongan in Central Java, Bogor and Banjar in West Java and Malang in East Java.

Grants for sewerage connections will be provided for Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, Surakarta in Central Java, Balikpapan in East Kalimantan, Jambi in Central Sumatra, Payakumbuh in West Sumatra, Blitar in East Java and Denpasar in Bali.

However, the funds will be made available only once the local governments have developed water pipe networks and sewerage systems.

“This disbursement is output based, and this is the first time we have ever used this kind of approach,” the minister said.

In this output-based system, recipients are required to have included clean water access and sanitation programs in their annual regional budgets.

The recipients can only get the allocated fund once they have proven that they have built pipe networks for clean water and a sewerage.

“For each of the household pipes installed, we will pay Rp 2 million [US$218],” the minister said. “And if they install more than 1,000 pipes, we will pay Rp 3 million [$328] for each additional pipe,” he added.

Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer said the grant was meant to improve Indonesians’ hygiene.
“The initiative will give about 480,000 Indonesians ready access to cleaner water and better sanitation, helping people to stay healthier and be more productive,” he said.

The Australian Government has provided a total of A$300 million (US$260 million) to improve clean water and sanitation programs in the Asia-Pacific region. (map)

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Water governance workshop in Bandung

The Jakarta Post, Sat, 06/19/2010 12:07 PM

BANDUNG: Dozens of participants are attending a five-day international workshop on water governance scheduled to be held in Bandung from Monday.

The participants, according to organizing committee member Erita K. Santosa, come from Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. The training program is a jointly funded initiative between UNDP Cap-Net, AguaJaring, IHE Indonesia and CKNet INA.

"Improved integrity, transparency, accountability and anti-corruption regarding water leads to better decision-making and more effective and fairer management, allocation and distribution of water resources and services." - JP

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Replenishment of groundwater still low

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 06/16/2010 11:01 AM | City

Awareness among Jakartans to replenish groundwater is still low, whereas water recharge is a key to prevent flooding and land subsidence, experts say.

As long as city dwellers recharge groundwater from shallow wells, a 15- to 20-meter long drilled or hand-dug well, groundwater exploitation will have little impact on land subsidence. “The point is that you need to restore the water you have taken from underground,” Fatchy Muhammad from the Indonesian Water Society told The Jakarta Post recently.

One effective way to prevent flooding and land subsidence is by storing rainwater as much as possible by creating biopores and water reservoirs such as absorption lakes. However, education on the importance of giving back to nature, ensuring that the groundwater extraction does not exceed its recharge, is still lacking. Budiarsih, a tailor who lives in Pondok Cabe, South Jakarta, has an 18-meter shallow well standing in her backyard where she pumps water from underground to meet her household water needs.

“I never knew that using groundwater had an environmental consequence of land subsidence, nor did I know that I have to make a biopore hole to replenish the water I have taken underground,” she said.

With more than a half of Jakarta’s population still lacking access to piped water, groundwater has served as a cheap alternative resource and a solution to meet the water needs of city households. A recent study from the Bandung Institute of Technology found that the exploration of groundwater, along with pressure from high-rise buildings, mainly contributed to land subsidence in Jakarta at a rate of 10 centimeters per year.

“One thing that most people forget or don’t know is that Jakarta laid in a low, flat basin, around 40 percent below sea level in 1973,” Firdaus Ali, a graduate geology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the US, told the Post.

He said Jakarta was slowly but surely sinking; the sea would reach Jl. Hayam Wuruk, Central Jakarta, around 5 kilometers inland, making North Jakarta completely submerged within next 50 years.

Firdaus, also a board member of the Jakarta Water Supply Regulatory Body, said that while it was important to empower grassroot communities to participate in conserving and recharging groundwater, it was clearly much more important to restrict business entities from exploiting it.

“I’m worried about the use of deep wells by many business entities, such as malls and hotels as they sometimes over pump deep groundwater without replenishing it,” he said. “Big buildings are the largest contributor to groundwater extraction and land subsidence in the city.”

Many large business establishments in Jakarta dig their own wells, which can be as deep as 200 meters, as an additional water supply that water tap operators cannot meet. But they sometimes use deep groundwater instead of tap water to avoid paying high water rates of Rp 14,650 (US$1.6) per cubic meter, according to Firdaus.

The City Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD) sealed off an illegally drilled deep well in the Bukopin building in South Jakarta last year as part of its bid to enforce a bylaw on groundwater extraction.

A biopore is around a 10-centimeter wide, 1-meter deep infiltration hole that is filled with organic waste to conserve groundwater.

Kamir R. Barata, a groundwater expert from the Bogor Agriculture Institute, said biopores are easy to make, as people just need to drill through watered soil using a standardized measurement.

He said rainwater absorption into soil was an effective way to conserve water and avoid water loss caused by evaporation.

Meanwhile, NGOs such as WatSan Action Tirta Lestari Foundation have emerged to raise awareness about the plight of groundwater exploitation through water-related educational programs, including teaching some city dwellers about how to make rainwater collection systems and biopores.

“We educate them about the danger of exploiting groundwater and how to better preserve it,” the foundation’s water engineer Noni Arkendita said, adding that her team also taught groundwater users in Cilincing, North Jakarta, and Bintaro, South Jakarta, how to construct water trenches to enhance water seepage and help channel water to biopores. (tsy)

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Banks pledge Rp 3.7 trillion for water projects

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 06/12/2010 11:34 AM

Three state-owned banks have signed a commitment to disburse a total of Rp 3.7 trillion (US$402 million) in credit to finance water distribution projects commissioned by the directorate general for urban development, Cipta Karya.

The banks are Bank BNI, Bank BRI and Bank Jabar Banten. In an agreement between parties signed on Friday, BNI will allocate Rp 1.8 trillion, BRI Rp 1.8 trillion and Jabar Banten Rp 100 billion.

“This is the first time that banks have given financial support to water companies. Usually, these companies rely heavily on the state budget or foreign loans,” Cipta Karya director general Budi Yuwono Prawirosudiorjo.

Budi said the funds would be channeled to water distribution companies owned by regional government (PDAM). He added that 75 companies had applied for the loan, 15 of which had received approval from the banks. There are 393 water companies in Indonesia.

“The water companies should have healthy financial performance or have to have restructured their debt,” he said, referring to the requirements for water companies to access the fund.

BNI business banking director Krisna Suparto said BNI was interested in offering credit to

water companies because the water industry had “a bright future, as do as other infrastructure

projects such as electricity or roads”.

He added that better management of water distribution was key to improving the lives of the

people. In Indonesia, about 70 million people have no access to clean drinking water.

He added that offering credit to water companies would boost BNI’s credit disbursement by 10 percent.

“We will offer a special rate for water companies, as the government will subsidize the rate by 5 percent,” he said, adding that the rate would follow the state bank’s rate and that the credit had a 10-year maturity period.

Bank Mandiri, Indonesia largest bank by assets, also plans to disburse credit worth Rp 1.8 trillion to water companies.

Budi said Indonesia required Rp 33 trillion in the next five years to construct water installations to provide clean drinking water.

“The government has allocated Rp 11.8 trillion from the budget. We still require about Rp 22 trillion and expect to source this from bank loans,” Budi said.

According to a Country Program report from UN Habitat 2008-2009, Indonesians’ access to clean water facilities remained relatively low.

Monday, June 7, 2010

President: Do not throw garbage into rivers

Antara News, Monday, June 7, 2010 16:13 WIB

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday called on the people not to litter rivers with garbage because it could destroy mangrove forests along the coast lines.

"Again, I ask the people not to throw garbage arbitrarily into rivers because it will destroy our mangrove forests at the sea shores," President Yudhoyono said when he inspected a mangrove forest area in the Muara Angke natural tourist park in North Jakarta.

On the occasion the president said environmental pollution would cause floods , various kinds of disease which would in the long run compel the government to spend a lot of funds on people`s health programs.

The head of state said it was better at the earlier stage to use the funds to save the environment, including mangrove forests, in an effort to save the people from the threat of natural disasters in the future.

"Some parts of the rivers are clean enough but most of them are still littered with garbage," the president said.

During his visit to the Muara Angke park, the President was accompanied by Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan, Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng, Environment Minister Gusti Muhammad Hatta, Minister/State Secretary Sudi Silalahi, Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam and Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo.

The Angke Kapuk natural tourist park is a 99.82-hectare natural conservation area covered by mangrove forests.

The area has been declared a tourist forest area for mangrove reforestation and rehabilitation and natural tourist activities.

Up to the end of April 2006, some 40 ha of the area had been rehabilitated and reforested with mangrove trees.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said on the occasion that his office has been cooperating with the Jakarta City Administration for five years to plant at least 9 million mangrove trees in the area.

"We have planted mangrove trees several times here, at Teluk Angke, at Ancol resort, and even at other locations in an effort to make Jakarta green," the forestry minister said.

According to him, mangrove-tree-planting activity should be intensified because environmental damage along the coast of Jakarta Bay had reached an alarming level.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Green concept compulsory for all development projects : minister

Antara News, Sunday, June 6, 2010 03:10 WIB

Bandung, West Java (ANTARA News) - Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Radjasa said all development efforts in Indonesia must be carried out based on a green concept to balance economic growth with environmental conservation.

"Development efforts in Indonesia must implement the Green Development or Green Economy concepts which are in essence friendliness to the environment," he said after attending the topping off of Grand Royal Panghegar Apartment on Jalan Merdeka here on Saturday.

He said Indonesia`s development efforts are facing three big challenges, namely food and energy sufficiency and provision of efficient energy supplies.

"Therefore, the Green Economy concept is suitable for application in Indonesia`s development projects," he said.

Hatta on the occasion expressed his appreciation to the Grand Royal Pangegar owner for having implemented the Green Economy concept.

"I will report it to Pak SBY (Mr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the President)," he said.

The ceremony was also attended by the president director of PT Panghegar Group, Cecep Rusmana, and West Java governor Ahmad Heryawan.

The structural construction of the 21-floor apartment project since January 2009 has now reached the highest floor.

Bandung mayor Dada Rosada meanwhile said in his speech on the occasion he hoped the Grand Royal Panghegar Apartment would become an important public notice about the presence of apartments in the city.

He said Bandung, the capital of West Java province, still needs a lot of apartments. "The city administration itself plans to develop flats in 10 locations," he said.

On the occasion the Grand Royal Panghegar handed over 1,000 raintree saplings to the city administration to help regreen the city.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

LPG warehouse explodes, four people still inside

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 06/02/2010 11:21 PM

A warehouse storing liquid petroleum gas canisters on Jl. Slompretan in the East Java capital of Surabaya exploded on Wednesday evening, causing severe damage to the building and nearby structures.

Officers from the East Java police forensic laboratory were deployed to the accident site for an investigation into possible cause of the blast. They said they would also search for four people who are believed to be inside the warehouse when it exploded, kompas.com reported.

Dozens of people were seen gathering near the warehouse to find out what really happened. They said they had heard a huge explosion, only to discover the building was torn down.

Following the blast, shattered glass windows and rocks scattered around the warehouse, which is located in front of Semut railway station.

Related Article:

Police Evacuate One Victim in Surabaya Explosion