`Water not merely public property'<\/p>\n
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Legislators staved off public demand for a revision of the water
\nresource bill, which opens the doors wide to the privatization of
\nwater, insisting that the natural resource had economic value.<\/p>\n
Erman Suparno, chairman of House Commission IV overseeing
\nnatural resources, among other things, said water had both social
\nand economic functions.<\/p>\n
He maintained that people's daily need for water would be
\ngiven priority, but once it was met, any surplus water should be
\nmanaged by private firms.<\/p>\n
"To some extent, we need private firms, so what we should do
\nis limit their ownership of the water sector," he said at a
\nseminar on the water resources bill held on Wednesday by the
\nScience and Technology Writers Society (Mapiptek).<\/p>\n
Other speakers included the senior operation officer of the
\nWorld Bank Office in Indonesia, George Soraya, former environment
\nminister Sonny Keraf and Director General of Water Resources at
\nthe Ministry of Settlement and Regional Infrastructure Roestam
\nSjarief.<\/p>\n
Erman said private firms' control of the water sector should
\nbe limited to a maximum 49 percent, thus allowing state-owned
\nenterprises to retain the lion's share of the sector.<\/p>\n
He said private control of the tap water business, for example
\nin Jakarta, where the local government's share stood at only 10
\npercent, needed reevaluating.<\/p>\n
"We must also review the mineral water business, following
\nreports that it has caused farms located near those plants to run
\nout of water," he said.<\/p>\n
However, he said restrictions on the maximum control of the
\nwater sector by private firms would not be spelled out in the
\nbill, saying the spirit of the draft bill already guaranteed that
\nthe economic benefits of water would not detract from its social
\nfunction.<\/p>\n
The water resource bill has met opposition from scholars, non-
\ngovernmental organizations and farmers' associations for allowing
\nthe privatization of the water sector.<\/p>\n
Critics say privatization would deprive the general public of
\naccess to water.<\/p>\n
Soraya of the World Bank suggested that the issue of water
\nmanagement focus on how to provide all people with access to
\nclean water, and that it could either be state- or private-run.<\/p>\n
He said it was obvious that the government alone could not
\nafford to finance projects worth billions of dollars to meet the
\nnation's demand for clean water.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/water-not-merely-public-property-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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