Jakarta water shortage to persist
JAKARTA (JP): Due to the failure to resolve a pricing dispute between water companies, water shortages will continue to affect tens of thousands of tap water customers in West and South Jakarta irrespective of who or what they are.
Badminton athlete Candra Wijaya is among the customers hit by the shortages -- his house in Cengkareng, West Jakarta, has had the water cut off for the past two days.
"It came on again today, but the supply is very limited. Sometimes it dries up completely," the Olympic gold medalist told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Candra said that he initially thought the shortage was due to a problem in his housing complex.
The water shortages have also been felt by the Graha Medika Hospital on Jl. Raya Pejuangan, West Jakarta.
"Fortunately, we have our own water source as a backup, so it doesn't really affect us so badly," Madi, a hospital staffer, told the Post.
Ruwaeny, a housewife who lives in Taman Meruya Ilir, West Jakarta, also complained about the shortages, saying that they were disrupting her daily activities.
"The water is still flowing, though, but it's very little. If we open more than one faucet, the water stops completely," she said.
A taxi driver named Pantoni said he and his fellow drivers had not washed their taxis for the past two days as the water had stopped flowing at the taxi pool in West Jakarta.
"Thank God, my house hasn't been affected" said Pantoni, who lives in Parung, Bogor.
The water shortage is due to a reduction in the supply of water from the Tangerang regency-owned water company PAM Tangerang to the city's joint-venture water company PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja).
PAM Tangerang has reduced the usual supply of 2,200 liters per second to 1,500 liters per second following a disagreement over the price of water between the two companies.
Executives of PAM Tangerang and Palyja met on Friday for fresh negotiations, but they failed to reach an agreement.
Iman Fachri, head of PAM Tangerang's Community Services Section, said that his company was only demanding an increase of 16.8 percent, not 25 percent as reported earlier, in the price it charged, up from the current price of Rp 915 per cubic meter.
Palyja has refused to pay up, saying that the increase requested by PAM Tangerang was excessive given the imposition of a 24 percent increase last year.
"The agreement between PAM Jaya and PAM Tangerang states that last year's price is fixed for three years except in a case where inflation rises above nine percent," Palyja said in a written statement.
As inflation last year was 9.35 percent, PAM Tangerang was entitled to increase water prices by only 0.35 percent, it added.
PAM Tangerang's Iman Fachri, nevertheless, said that they would not restore normal water supplies to Palyja until the dispute was settled.
"Let's see what happens over the next few days. We'll find a solution but, in the mean time, we will continue to maintain the decreased supply," he told the Post.
Palyja, a joint venture between city-owned water company PAM Jaya and French-based Lyonnaise des Eaux, said that the decrease in water supplies from Tangerang had affected 117,000 customers -- out of its total customer base of 275,000 -- in West and South Jakarta.
The company further apologized for the inconvenience, and said that it was doing its utmost to ensure the continuity of water supplies from its other water sources.
Areas likely to be affected by the shortages include Kalideres, Warung Gantung, Rawa Lele and Citra 1, Cengkareng, Taman Surya V, Palem Lestari, KSP Housing, Bulak Wadon apartments, Tegal Alur, Meruya, Duri Mas, Duri Kepa, Kebon Jeruk, Komplek Kodam and Sang Timur, Villa Kelapa Dua, Taman Duta mas, Sukabumi Utara, Pejaten, Pasar Minggu, Pondok Pinang, Rajawali, and Pondok Indah and environs. (hdn/yan)