Controversy over bill on water resources

Controversy over bill on water resources

Nila Ardhianie, Coordinator, Indonesian Forum on Globalization,
Surakarta, Central Java

With the delayed discussion of the bill on Water Resources
(RUU-SDA) by the House of Representatives (DPR) and the proposed
article on irrigation considered by the World Bank a divergence
from its original accord with the Indonesian government, this
financial institution is likely to cancel the Water Resources
Sector Adjustment Loan (WATSAL) and the disbursement of its third
or last phase fund worth US$150 million.

This World Bank threat has been one of the most recent issues
arising along with the heated debate about RUU-SDA lately.
Indeed, until the end of the House Working Committee's assignment
and DPR-government sessions, legislators could not yet decide on
such important matters as water export, the drinking water and
sanitation regulating body, and irrigation management. It is the
last issue that has triggered protracted tension between the
government, the DPR and the Bank.

In line with the objective of WATSAL, the initial draft of the
bill already directed irrigation management toward the
Association of Water User Farmers (P3A), but the manuscript
submitted by the government to the DPR was reportedly changed, in
which irrigation management remained the government's
responsibility.

The Minister of Settlements and Regional Infrastructures as
the key official in the RUU-SDA discussion, only five days before
the committee started working, announced a moratorium on the
implementation of the Irrigation Reform Policy Program (PKPI),
which basically delegated the regional government's irrigation
management authority to P3A.

Government Regulation No.77/2001 on irrigation, issued to meet
the requirement for the second tranche disbursement of WATSAL,
stipulates that irrigation management is to be turned over from
the government to P3A as a legal entity. Meanwhile, through his
letter the Minister of Resettlements stated that the DPR
disapproved of the delegation of authority.

It was also indicated that article 42 of RUU-SDA already
reflected the DPR's view, which expected the irrigation
management authority to remain in the government's hands. This
article was later rejected by the Minister of Home Affairs in his
letter dated Sept. 18, with the argument that the government
regulation as the basis for P3A's authorization had been
communicated to all farmers with very positive response, so that
this matter should become a major consideration in drawing up
RUU-SDA.

Before the completion of WATSAL, the World Bank had prepared a
big project designed for 19 years to support the implementation
of rules as WATSAL's output in half of the Indonesian territory.
The WB support for Indonesia's Water Resources and Irrigation
Sector Project, scheduled for 2004 -- 2014, will be assisted by
the Asian Development Bank and the Japan Bank for International
Cooperation so that it can be realized all over the country.

The other crucial problems in RUU-SDA are drinking water and
sanitation regulating body and water export, which only started
to be raised when the working committee was functional and may
apparently be a new stumbling block in the passing of the bill
into law. The regulating body was proposed by the Ministry of
Resettlements and water export by the Indonesian military/police
faction of the DPR.

Some circles have questioned why the two major topics began to
be considered when the process of legislation had reached such an
advanced stage. WATSAL was started in April 1999, whereas RUU-SDA
as a government initiative was officially submitted by the
Minister of Resettlements to the DPR in November 2002.

While the article on irrigation is closely related to the
World Bank, the proposed Indonesian Drinking Water and Sanitation
Regulating Body (BRAMSI) is part of the ADB technical assistance
project of the Regulatory Framework for Private and Public Water
Supply and Wastewater Enterprises.

It is a grant from the Japanese government worth US$790,000,
channeled through the Asian Currency Crisis Support Facility for
the development and operation of a regulatory framework to
protect the interests of relevant parties, including poor
communities, and create conditions conducive to the private
sector's participation.

Amri Husni Siregar, a member of the RUU-SDA working committee,
warned that the government proposed regulating body was very
dangerous because it would become a point of entry of
privatization in the water supply sector due to its regulation to
ensure smooth investment inflows. Besides, with its authority to
fix subscription rates, this body will later certainly favor
investors' interests.

The charges that RUU-SDA is more focused on how to utilize
water for economic or commercial purposes than on its
conservation aspect have at least been proven by the DPR's own
proposal to regulate or permit water export.

There has been fairly strong opposition to water export,
particularly because the majority of the population is as yet
without proper access to clean water.

This export involves the extraction of water and its shipment
to other countries for profit making, which usually requires the
displacement of large quantities of water from its natural
reservoirs, including rivers.

With the impact that may arise from the provisions in the bill
now still pending, it seems that the statement by the environment
minister as reported by several mass media can serve as a guide.

The minister warned the government and the DPR against
producing RUU-SDA only out of lobbying without examining long-
term interests. He also emphasized that the formulation of a
legal product concerning water as a public asset should be based
on the management concept of resource sustainability.

The approach put forward by the environment minister deserves
our affirmative response. Only by applying sustainable resource
management can the availability of water to the human race on
this planet be guaranteed in the future.