Jakarta should learn about water from Cambodia<\/p>\n
Unlike Jakarta and other cities in Indonesia, the tap water
\nsituation in Cambodia's capital of Phnom Penh is improving, as
\nthe state-owned water company is very hard working and dedicated
\nto providing water to all citizens.<\/p>\n
In Phnom Penh, according to state-owned Phnom Penh Water
\nSupply Authority (PPWSA), 75 percent of its over 1 million
\npopulation is connected to the tap water lines thanks to the
\ncompany's massive expansion launched since the end of civil war
\nin 1993.<\/p>\n
Another astonishing figure is that PPWSA has cut down illegal
\nconnections to less than 5 customers last year from 300 in 1993,
\nand water prices are at less than half of that of Jakarta, at 14
\nU.S. cents per cubic meter. Over 78 percent of its customers pay
\ntheir bills on time. Some 4,700 poor families have also been
\nconnected to PPWSA's tap water service with a special installment
\npayment.<\/p>\n
PPWSA is on schedule to make a profit by 2005, and has an
\nestimated capacity to supply over 1.5 million people in the
\ncapital.<\/p>\n
As a comparison, in Jakarta, only a small percentage of the
\npopulation is connected to the tap water system. Leakages due to
\nillegal connections and poor infrastructure reaches almost 50
\npercent, water fees stand at Rp 2,700 (30 U.S. cents) per cubic
\nmeter and rising, and the two private water providers have been
\nunable to make any profits so far.<\/p>\n
Ek Sonn Chan, General Manager of PPWSA since 1993 admitted
\nthat it was difficult to expand the tap water distribution to
\nmeet the rising demand at first as the tap water infrastructure
\nwas obsolete, and existing customers were unwilling to pay their
\nwater bills, so leakage and theft was rampant.<\/p>\n
"It was a tough challenge for our teams to improve the poor
\nwater service just after the conflict period ended in our country
\nand we started undergoing a peaceful era," he said.<\/p>\n
But PPWSA was fortunate as the Cambodian Government gave its
\nfull support to the expansion program and it could concentrate on
\nautonomously managing its funds to improve water services, Sonn
\nChan said.<\/p>\n
One of the most important support efforts was when the
\ngovernment agreed to raise tap water charges for customers twice
\nbetween 1993 and 2002. The increase was actually expected to be
\nthree times during that period.<\/p>\n
Door-to-door campaigning was carried out to ask the existing
\ncustomers to pay their water bills, to require illegal customers
\nto get legal connections with PPWSA and to make offers to
\npotential customers to connect to PPWSA's system.<\/p>\n
With a relatively lower price, people started to connect to
\nPPWSA rather than getting water from private vendors that could
\nsell it at 10 times the price of PPWSA water.<\/p>\n
-- Moch. N. Kurniawan<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jakarta-should-learn-about-water-from-cambodia-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }