Chairman queries water decree

Chairman queries water decree

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration's plan to strengthen a
regulation on water catchment wells will not be effective if city
officials fail to uphold it, a councilor says.

The chairman of the City Council's Commission D for
development affairs, Bandjar Marpaung, said yesterday that the
effort was good but would not work if officials were not serious
about supervising the implementation of the decree and enforcing
it.

On Thursday, Prawoto S. Danoemihardjo, an assistant to the
city secretary, said the administration planned to convert a
gubernatorial decree which obliges public and private building
owners to construct water catchment wells into a provincial
decree.

The plan was proposed because the administration considers the
gubernatorial decree, issued in 1992, fails to compel people to
build catchment wells.

Bandjar said that weak supervision can be seen by the fact
that only 1,000 out of 16,766 people applying for building
permits in the city had built catchment wells.

Based on the gubernatorial decree, a building permit requires
that all houses must have catchment wells.

"Many people violate the gubernatorial decree because it has
been poorly enforced and supervision has been very weak. The
administration's limited personnel is not an excuse," he said.

The administration also tends to compromise with house owners
over the decree, he added.

Those caught violating the gubernatorial decree are supposed
to receive administrative punishment, such as the revocation of
their building permits. Violating a provincial decree, however,
is a more serious matter.

Bandjar said converting the gubernatorial decree into a
provincial decree is a good idea as a provincial decree is more
powerful, and those violating it will get three-month jail terms
or be fined Rp 50,000.

He said the city administration should also launch campaigns,
such as public presentations, to make Jakartans aware of the need
and importance of catchment wells in their houses.

"Many people have not been well informed about such catchment
wells," Bandjar said.

The gubernatorial decree regulates that all houses should
build water catchment wells to preserve groundwater. (yns)