Deliberation begins on new water bill

Deliberation begins on new water bill

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government and the House of Representatives have begun deliberating a bill on water resources, which they claim will ensure public participation in determining the use of the resource as well as protecting people's right to water.

Minister of Resettlement and Regional Infrastructure Soenarno said the bill assumed the public deserved a role in deciding the planning, execution, supervision and evaluation of the utilization of water.

He said, for example, that the bill detailed the need to establish a water resource council made up of ministries and other stakeholders, which would recommend policy and strategy on water resources.

These councils would be established at the national, provincial and regency levels, according to draft bill.

If passed into law, the bill on water resources would replace Law No. 11/1974 on water.

Soenarno also said the government hoped to use the bill to protect the right of the powerless to access water; a right that is sometimes lost through the exploitation of the resource.

"The protection will combine social, economic and environmental values, as water is a basic human need and it must be accessible to everyone," he said.

According to the minister, the bill clearly distinguishes between the functions of the central government and regional governments in handling water resources, in accordance with regional autonomy.

"The role of the central government will focus on water across provinces, and provincial administrations on water beyond the borders of regencies," he said.

The bill also ensures water conservation and threatens penalties to those who harm or pollute water resources, he said.

Sulaiman N. Sembiring, executive director of the Institute of Natural Resources Law, hailed the bill, saying it was more comprehensive than Law No. 11/1974.

However, he said the draft bill did not do enough to accommodate the voices of local stakeholders.

"Without the participation of local people expressing their problems, the bill will be fine in writing but unrealistic in practice. So don't discuss it only in Jakarta, but go to the provinces and regencies," he told The Jakarta Post.

Sulaiman also warned that the bill could provide private firms the opportunity to control water resources.

"We fear water resources will fall under the control of a few big firms and people will find it more and more difficult to access water," he said.

Regarding the penalties laid out in the draft, Sulaiman said those who damaged water resources should get more than a three- year jail sentence and a Rp 300 million fine, as stipulated in Article 93 of the bill.

"The environmental destruction resulting from the disruption of water resources is difficult to measure. The punishment is too light," he said.

Meanwhile, Riki F. Ibrahim, senior official at the Indonesian Geothermal Association, said the bill failed to clearly define water resources, thus raising the potential for dispute with other rulings and draft laws.

Citing an example, he said the bill on water resources conflicted with the bill on geothermal resources when it came to taxes, which would cause legal uncertainty among businesspeople.

"Under the geothermal bill, certain taxes are imposed on geothermal businessmen, who will also be subject to taxes according to the water resource bill.

"This water resources bill needs an overhaul before being endorsed," he said.