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)