Water charges set to rise in April<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The city administration will increase water charges in April this
\nyear despite continuing leakages that reach 250 million cubic
\nmeters per year, an official revealed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Jakarta Water Regulatory Board chairman Achmad Lanti claimed
\nthat the charges for poor families and charitable institutions
\nwould not be increased.<\/p>\n
"The increases will be applied to middle and upper-income
\nfamilies, and office and industrial users. However, the size of
\nthe increases has yet to be decided," Lanti told reporters after
\nmeeting with Governor Sutiyoso at City Hall.<\/p>\n
He said the hikes in water charges could not be avoided even
\nthough the charges had been increased twice, by 20 percent and 35
\npercent respectively, since the city-owned water utility, PAM
\nJaya, entered into collaborative ventures with two foreign
\npartners in February 1998.<\/p>\n
He said that since the collaboration agreements with PT Thames
\nPam Jaya (TPJ) and PT Pam Lyonaise Jaya had been signed, the
\naggregate inflation rate had reached 154 percent.<\/p>\n
TPJ, which is a subsidiary of Britain's Thames Water
\nInternational, supplies customers in the east of Jakarta while
\nPalyja, a subsidiary of France's ONDEO (formerly Lyonaisse des
\nEaux), serves customers in the west of the city.<\/p>\n
The agreements are due to last for 25 years.<\/p>\n
The regulatory board, which was set up two years ago under
\ngubernatorial decree No. 95\/2001, consists of independent
\nmembers, mostly pensioners from the Ministry of Infrastructure
\nand Regional Resettlement.<\/p>\n
The board's duties include proposing charge increases,
\nmediating in any disputes that might arise during the term of the
\ncollaboration agreements and periodically reviewing the
\nagreements.<\/p>\n
Lanti revealed on Tuesday that the two foreign partners
\nproduced about 500 million cubic meters of water a year, but 49
\npercent of this water was lost.<\/p>\n
"The losses are due to illegal connections and leakage," he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The City Council's Commission B for economic affairs on
\nSaturday suggested the cancellation of the agreements with the
\nforeign investors as they had failed to benefit the
\nadministration while service remained poor.<\/p>\n
Lanti rejected the council's view.<\/p>\n
"This is impossible as the city has no money to pay
\ncompensation. It would also damage the foreign investment climate
\nhere," he said.<\/p>\n
If the agreements were canceled, he said, under penalty
\nclauses the city would have to pay compensation of Rp 1.9
\ntrillion to the foreign partners, the equivalent of what they had
\ninvested here.<\/p>\n
The city would also have to repay foreign debts worth Rp 1.5
\ntrillion belonging to PAM Jaya through the Ministry of Finance if
\nit were to annul the agreements.<\/p>\n
"To return the management to PAM Jaya would also be risky due
\nto the company's long history of corruption," he explained.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/water-charges-set-to-rise-in-april-1447893297",
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