Joint venture firm to start on major pipeline project

JAKARTA (JP): PT Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ), a British-Indonesian tap water management joint venture, is scheduled to embark on the installation of 100 kilometers of pipelines in the eastern part of Jakarta on Thursday, according to a company executive.

Nani Sariati, TPJ's sales and marketing manager, said on Wednesday the pipeline project was aimed at replacing old pipes as part of the firm's water-quality improvement program.

"The Rp 150 billion (US$13.63 million) project is expected to be completed within three years," she said.

Nani explained that the project would be conducted by 20 local contractors, who were selected from 200 bidders.

Half of the 20 successful contractors are members of the Indonesian Drinking Water Contractors Association (Akaindo).

Nani said that other initiatives in the water quality improvement program included undertaking regular maintenance and cleaning of the distribution network in order to minimize sediment in the pipes or disinfection of water throughout the network.

"So far more than 550 kilometers of pipes have been flushed," she said.

The company's distribution director, Tony De Seta, said the program had been designed from both the firm's research and customer feedback.

He said the activities were determined through a sampling program from more than 400 locations, including customer's taps.

"TPJ takes water quality issue seriously. During our first year of operation we will have taken 16,000 samples and performed over 100,000 tests," he said.

TPJ, which started operating in February in partnership with city-owned tap water company PDAM Jaya, is responsible for managing and improving water supply in the eastern half of the capital.

The firm is currently serving more than 2.4 million customers. (jun)