Late water pay subject to fines

Late water pay subject to fines

JAKARTA (JP): The city-owned water company, PAM Jaya, will
penalize consumers with fines newly-increased by 100 to 500
percent as of next month, a move that has drawn strong criticism
from the City Council.

Bambang Suranto, PAM Jaya's business director, said in a
letter dated Oct. 11 that the fine for an overdue payment will be
raised to Rp 5,000 from the existing fine of Rp 1,000.

He said the increase had to be made to instill discipline in
PAM Jaya's water consumers.

The fines will be set at Rp 17,000 for small-scale businesses
and at Rp 37,000 for larger companies. The letter did not state
the current fine levels.

Lukman F. Mokoginta, chairman of the Indonesian Democratic
Party faction, said Saturday that the increase will become a
burden to consumers.

"Basically, we can accept the infliction of a sanction which
aims to uphold public discipline," he said. "However, the
sanction must be rational."

Soegijo, chairman of the council's Golkar faction, said that
the company must revise its decision because the high increase
could cause public unrest. "PAM Jaya should balance their service
their desired payment."

"If the company's service is good, the consumers will surely
carry out their obligations," he said.

Yusuf Hamdani, of the council's United Development Party
faction, also urged the company to review its decision and even
suggested lowering the fine.

According to PAM Jaya, special consumers, such as the owners
of water tanks, the Tanjung Priok port management as well as
barge owners will be fined Rp 10,000, Rp 65,000 and Rp 38,000
successively for overdue monthly payments.

Regional regulation no. 11/1993 on drinking water stipulates
that any consumer who fails to pay within five days of the
company's due date will be subject to a fine. (32)