Dikes neglected due to low funds: Jasa Tirta II

Dikes neglected due to low funds: Jasa Tirta II

JAKARTA (JP): Amid the agony of hundreds of thousands people
suffering from water shortages following the collapse of a dike
here, the state water company admitted on Saturday that not all
dikes and water networks in the city are properly maintained due
to a lack of funds.

Jasa Tirta II technical director Sri Hernowo said that the
company needed Rp 136 billion to fund maintenance costs last
year, but only between 30 percent and 40 percent of that amount
was available.

He said that the company sells water at Rp 50 per cubic meter
to the city-owned water company PT PAM Jaya, while PT PAM Jaya
charges household customers Rp 2,700/cubic meter, hotels and
offices Rp 5,700/cubic meter, and the Tanjung Priok harbor Rp
7,500/cubic meter.

The state water company also sells water to industry at a rate
of Rp 23/cubic meter.

"Ideally, the water should be sold to PAM Jaya and industry at
Rp 200 per cubic meter," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

He also said that the city administration should hand over
part of the land and building ownership tax obtained from farmers
to the state water company. "But this does not happen either," he
said.

According to Hernowo, the Jatiluhur dam in West Java has the
capacity to produce 6 billion cubic meters per day, but only 500
million cubic meters are sold to PAM Jaya and industry, while the
rest is used for irrigation.

Hernowo was accompanying Minister for Resettlement and
Infrastructure Erna Witoelar during a visit to the West Tarum
dike in Kali Malang, East Jakarta, part of which collapsed last
Monday.

"I hope that the repairs can be finished soon so that the
water requirements of Jakarta residents who depend on this dike
can be fulfilled," Erna said.

Hundreds of thousands of residents in East, North and part of
Central Jakarta are suffering water shortages as the city's two
tap water companies under PT PAM Jaya, PT Thames Pam Jaya and PT
Pam Lyonnaise Jaya, have had to interrupt regular water supplies.

Erna said that a lack of funds should not be an excuse for the
delay in repairing the collapsed dike.

She also said that Jasa Tirta II should optimize its funds by
giving priority to the vital dikes that provide water supplies to
households and industry.

The minister criticized the current system, under which funds
are allocated equally for all dikes and water networks.

Hernowo said there are 17 critical dikes and 13 water
pipelines along a 70 kilometer stretch between Curug, West Java,
and Cawang, East Jakarta, which are the primary source of
household and industry water supplies in Jakarta.

It is estimated that repairs to the West Tarum dike will take
two weeks.

While many suffer due to the lack of tap water supplies, some
people profit.

Stores providing jet pumps are packed with buyers who have
turned to artesian wells as an alternative water source.

A shop attendant in Kenari market, Central Jakarta, said that
business had been strong since Thursday.

"We usually serve only a few buyers in one day, but now they
keep on coming from the time we open until we close in the
evening," he said.

One trader told Antara that most of the buyers said they used
to obtain water from artesian wells before the tap water company
began serving their area. As they had not used their jet pumps
for a long time, they did not work properly and many had to be
replaced.

The price of jet pumps vary between Rp 900,000 and Rp 3
million, depending on their quality.

Koko, who lives on Jl. Tegal Ambon in Duren Sawit, East
Jakarta, decided to buy a jet pump because he was desperate for
clean water.

"I am already embarrassed because I always request (water)
from my neighbor (who has an artesian well)," he said.

Many residents said they have asked the water company to
deploy its water trucks to their neighborhood, but they have yet
to arrive.

Mrs. Sidauruk, who lives in the Bidara Cina area in North
Jakarta, will move to her son's house in Bogor, south of Jakarta.

"I can no longer ask for water from my neighbor who has a jet
pump in her house, because it is already broken after being used
non-stop 24 hours a day to supply water to people living in five
community units in my neighborhood," she said.

She regretted that the water trucks promised by PT Thames Pam
Jaya had never arrived and said that there are no water vendors
in her area.

Meanwhile, a man who contacted The Jakarta Post on Saturday
morning said that residents in the Danau Sunter housing complex
in North Jakarta had to pay prices ranging between Rp 100,000 and
Rp 200,000 (17.4 U.S. cents) per cubic meter of water.

"This has been going on for the last two days," he said. (bby)