Burdensome tap water

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.