Burdensome tap water

After its success in pressing the city administration to approve a 40 percent increase in the tap water tariff in April, the city-owned tap water company PT PAM Jaya, joining its foreign partners, is requesting another 30 percent price increase.

Therefore, if the request is granted, there will be two increases in the tap water tariff in only seven months.

Unlike the April increase, the latest across-the-board increase -- if approved -- could be said to be slightly inhumane because orphanages and places of worship classified under Group I as well as small homes (Group II) will also be subject to the increase.

According to the proposal, consumers classified under Group I and Group II must pay, respectively, Rp 650, (up from Rp 375) and Rp 1,200 per liter of water, (from Rp 650). Hotels and night establishments, which are classified under Group IVB, must pay Rp 8,200 per liter, or Rp 1,500 higher than the current tariff.

The classic reason for the request is the huge debt owed by PAM Jaya to its English partner, PT Thames PAM Jaya (TPJ), and PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) from France.

One Jakarta-based evening daily reported that the two foreign companies' debts amounted to more than Rp 100 billion. Achmad Lanti, the head of the Tap Water Regulating Agency in Jakarta, was quoted as saying that total debts owed by PAM Jaya -- including the two partners' debts -- amounted to Rp 1.8 trillion. That amount does not include a Rp 990 billion shortfall suffered by the two foreign firms since they joined PAM Jaya in 1997.

Whatever the case, the question is, why should the consumers be burdened with the companies' debts, which among other things are probably due to the high-cost economy?

So heavy is the burden of the England-based companies apparently that the British Ambassador to Indonesia, Richard Gozney, felt it necessary to discuss the matter with Vice President Hamzah Haz.

The statements of officials on the leakage of tap water due to theft and old pipes are interesting. Before PAM Jaya joined with the foreign partners, the leakage due to thefts and an antiquated pipe network reached 55 percent. Currently the companies are said to have minimized the leakage to about 47 percent of the total 500 million cubic meters of tap water distributed each year. Some 900,000 households in the city are listed as tap water consumers. Officials involved in the tap water businesses reported in the 1980s that between 45 and 48 percent of the water produce was lost due to leakage.

Chairman of the City Council's Commission C, Bimo Hapsoro, said that water leakage before PAM Jaya started cooperating with its two partners was more than 62 percent. The deal between PAM and the foreign firms stipulated that the companies agreed to minimize the leakage to only 35 percent within five years.

"But the leakage is still around 50 percent. This means that the foreign companies have cheated the city administration, City Council and the people," Bimo said.

Whatever the reasons are for increasing the tap water tariff, PAM Jaya should be aware that its proposal on the new tariff is obviously unfair as it fails to take into consideration the services it provides to consumers.

PT TPJ's director said last Thursday that as many as 9,000 complaints are lodged by consumers every month; 6,000 are handled by PT TPJ and the rest by Palyja.

Rhamses Simanjuntak, communication and relations director of PT TPJ, however, said that 6,000 complaints were not a significant number compared to the companies' 360,000 consumers. He said an average of "only" 200 complaints per day was normal.

Reports have it that the complaints vary greatly. A West Jakarta resident said that water from his taps started to flow at about 8 p.m. every day. A housewife living in Petamburan, also West Jakarta, said that the tap water in her home only flows for six hours, between midnight and 6 a.m. every day.

It would be wise for PAM Jaya and PT TPJ and Palyja to try to find a way to build some kind of mutual respect with the public by striving to improve their services, instead of orienting themselves toward financial profits only.

And while waiting for the results of the audit being carried out by a foreign consultant, it is imperative that the city administration rethinks the whole concept of the proposed increase.

Bimo's statement, which proposes that detailed and thorough reports from PAM Jaya and its partners must be submitted before the new tariff is approved, is altogether reasonable and acceptable.