Jakarta water shortage to persist

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)