Council to establish team to study PDAM water deal

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council agreed on Wednesday to establish a new team to conduct an in-depth study into the water deal between city-owned water firm PDAM Jaya and its two foreign partners.

Council speaker Edy Waluyo said the team, replacing the previous one, would consist of newly elected councilors from Commission A for administrative affairs, Commission C for city revenue and Commission D for development affairs, he said.

He gave no details on any figures or the deadline for the team. Edy assured the 15 representatives of the PDAM Jaya workers union, whose members have repeatedly complained about the water deal, that the new team would be able to solve the prolonged conflict among the parties fairly and quickly.

"We promised that the problem would be solved," Edy told the union's representatives, who visited the councilors together with some 150 others to demand a cancellation of the deal with the foreign partners.

Edy said the outcome of the team's work could be in the form of a cancellation of the water management agreement or a renegotiation of it.

"It will totally depend on the results of the team's study," he said.

Edy explained that the previous team who worked on a similar mission, led by former councilors Ali Wongso Sinaga and Wien Ritola, was not completed as they had to leave their posts in August.

After working for about a year, the team yielded no significant results, he said.

During the meeting, union chairman Amir Tanjung also demanded the councilors to put some of their colleagues on the list of team members.

The request, however, was rejected by the councilors.

Councilor Syamsuardi Botan of Commission A said the team should only consist of councilors to make it objective.

"We don't want to be used by workers," Syamsuardi said.

The visiting workers seemed dissatisfied with the result but left peacefully later.

Amir said the workers visited the council since its provisional leader, Supangat, recently promised to cancel the water deal in September.

"We're here again to remind the councilors of their promise. Pak Edy also once promised that the matter would be solved in July but until now there has been no solution," Amir said.

The workers frequently staged demonstrations and visited the council to demand the cancellation of the water deal, which they claimed was full of indications of corruption and collusion.

Last month, the workers "occupied" a logistics office of PDAM Jaya in Pejompongan, Central Jakarta. The action, however, was strongly criticized by many, including Governor Sutiyoso and several city councilors.

Amir said on Wednesday that the action was merely aimed at attracting public attention to the dispute, instead of committing "a crime" as some accused.

The water management agreement, signed in February with PT Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ) and Pam Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja), has been long protested by the workers, who claim to have suffered a significant drop in monthly income.

Sutiyoso repeatedly said he would not cancel the water deal in order to avoid a lawsuit from the foreign parties. (jun)