Council has yet to endorse tap water rate hike plan

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council has yet to endorse the city administration's proposal to impose the new tap water rates as many councillors still disagree with the proposed increase, a councillor said on Tuesday.

"We (the council) will send our approval to the governor as soon as we have our final decision," Muhammad Suwardi, deputy council speaker, told reporters on the sidelines of the council's meeting discussing the certification for the administration's business partners.

Suwardi, also a councillor of the National Mandate Party (PAN), was responding to Governor Sutiyoso's statement last week that the new water rates may be imposed on March 1, if the council is able to send its approval to the city administration before the specified date.

The Council's Commission C on economic affairs had proposed a hike of between 14 and 43 percent, but exempted some consumers from the proposed increase, including charity organizations, places of worship, government hospitals, "very simple" houses and apartments, and gas stations.

The council has agreed with the proposal, Suwardi said, but many councillors have also rejected the planned hike for "simple" and "medium" houses and apartments.

He said a cross-subsidy scheme will be applied as a result of the exemption of social institutions, poor customers, and the households from the hike.

He suggested the city administration should publicize the new water rates first, before issuing a gubernatorial decree on the hike.

A leadership meeting of the City Council earlier this month approved an increase in tap water rates proposed by the commission C. Each of the council's 11 factions will have to submits its approval of the proposal before the council can announce its official approval of the new rates.

The council leaders also suggested that the water rates imposed at the Tanjung Priok port operator be charged in U.S. dollars, Suwardi said.

Commission C proposed that tap water prices be increased between 14 percent and 43 percent for all categories of consumer, except social institutions and poor customers.

The city administration had originally demanded an increase between 6 percent and 43.09 percent be imposed on all consumer categories.

The commission has proposed that prices for the basic and mid- range categories of customers would be set at between Rp 1,035 and Rp 2,100 (between US 10 and 22 cents) per cubic meter, higher than the initial rates of Rp 1,000 and Rp 2,000 proposed by the city administration.

The commission has also proposed that new tariffs for luxury houses, embassies, government and military offices, private institutions, colleges and universities, small businesses, luxury apartments, restaurants and private hospitals be between Rp 2,500 and Rp 3,500 per cubic meter, up from the current Rp 1,660 to Rp 2,475.

Meanwhile, star-rated hotels, nightclubs, banks, service stations, highrise buildings, factories and the vast Ancol recreational park and real estate complex in North Jakarta will have a new maximum rate of Rp 5,200 per cubic meter, up from the current Rp 3,650.

The commission had earlier proposed that the Tanjung Priok port operator will be charged Rp 7,000 per cubic meter, up from the current Rp 5,200. (04)