City Council: PDAM Jaya is lacking professionalism

City Council: PDAM Jaya is lacking professionalism

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council has criticized the City Water
Company, PDAM Jaya, for its lack of professionalism in managing
its human resources, which is partly why tap water leakages
remain as high as 44 percent.

"The management of PDAM Jaya is never held by those who are
well-versed in procuring clean drinking water for urban
communities," Lukman Fritz Mokoginta of the Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI) faction told a plenary meeting which discussed a bill
on the excess of the city's 1993-1994 budget yesterday.

PDAM Jaya needs to put the right man in the right place, he
added.

Lukman said that at certain places, PDAM Jaya's pipes are
already leaky although they were only installed three to four
years ago.

And although PDAM Jaya has received reports about the
leakages, consumers must wait for months before the company does
attempt repairing the leaky pipes, he said.

"No wonder the financial burden caused by the leakage is
eventually imposed on the consumers," he added.

Recently, a dispute broke out between the City Council and
PDAM Jaya when the company, without first consulting the council,
raised the tap water price at public water tanks it serves by 200
percent to Rp 780 (360 U.S. cents) per cubic meter as of this
month.

A number of city councilors who were unhappy with PDAM Jaya's
decision said they were campaigning to block the company's plan.

Lukman said the PDI faction was also concerned that many
official houses are left unoccupied by the officials who were
allotted the houses while on the other hand, there are many
lower-ranking officials who still do not have houses.

Lukman said a budget of Rp 5.48 billion ($2.53 million) was
earmarked during the 1993-94 fiscal year for the appropriation of
a housing site in South Jakarta for high-ranking city officials
and deputy chairmen of the City Council.

Lukman said the PDI faction was dismayed that such a huge
amount was spent for constructing and maintaining houses which
are only to be left unoccupied. (arf)