Clean water supply remains inadequate

JAKARTA (JP): The government has admitted that it cannot meet the increasing demand for clean water and that its drive to use resources more efficiently has yet to succeed.

Director General of Human Settlements Rachmadi B.S. told a seminar recently that, as urban populations grew and economic progress advanced, there was not enough infrastructure to meet clean water demand.

In a written statement delivered by a member of his staff, Achmad Lanti, Rachmadi called for better cooperation between the government and the private sector.

"Cooperation... is needed to improve the quality and efficiency of services and tackle the supply-demand imbalance, with the government acting as the enabler and regulator rather than as the sole provider," he said.

Government investment in public infrastructure in the 1980s had doubled the water supply, built more roads and intensified programs on slum improvement, solid waste management, waste water and urban sanitation, he said.

But high urban growth was keeping the country's service levels among the lowest in East Asia, Rachmadi said.

By the end of the fifth Five-year Development Plan in 1994, 25 percent of urban households were connected to pipe water, 20 percent bought pipe water from vendors and 80 percent relied on wells or surface water.

He said that only 40 percent of urban households had access to adequate sanitation facilities. There was inadequate disposal of solid waste, prevalent flooding and that poor drainage caused up to 53 percent of PDAM Jaya's water to be lost through leakage. PDAM Jaya runs Jakarta's pipe-water system.

"Indonesia's rapid economic growth in recent years has placed heavy demands on infrastructure, especially for water supply," Rachmadi said. "Most facilities are either operating close to capacity or are overloaded."

Private participation could bring in flow of capital and technology, especially in the area of environmental-friendly technology.

Another speaker, Nenny Sri Utami of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, said domestic energy consumption was expected to fall by up to 17 percent by the year 2000.

In the first Long Term Development Plan (1969/1970-1994/1995), total energy consumption grew at an average rate of 8.8 percent a year.

Tuesday's seminar on saving energy was sponsored by Danfoss in cooperation with the Royal Danish Embassy.

Danfoss, a Danish company with worldwide operations, is providing technology to produce district-based flow measurements for heating, cooling, drinking and wastewater in pipes and open channels. (40)