Official plays down World Bank threat to stop water aid
Official plays down World Bank threat to stop water aid
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A senior government official has played down the World Bank's
threat to stop disbursing financial assistance under the Water
Resources Sector Adjustment Loan (Watsal), saying the aid is not
necessary.
The resettlement and regional infrastructure ministry's legal
division head, Tjindra Parma, said on Friday that the government
did not care whether or not the bank disbursed the remaining
US$150 million of $300 million in loan it had pledged to the
country's water projects in 1999.
Tjindra, however, fell short of saying that the government
would revise the controversial water resources bill, which has
drawn strong opposition from the public.
The bill, drafted to meet the country's commitment to the
World Bank in 1999, encourages, among other things, privatization
of the water sector.
Farmers' associations and activists have strongly criticized
the bill, arguing that, if endorsed, it would allow the private
sector to control water supply and deny people from low-income
families access to affordable, potable water.
Leaders of the House of Representatives (DPR) ordered a House
commission deliberating the bill to suspend its discussions and
obtain more input from the public on the bill.
The World Bank, however, threatened last week to stop
disbursing its financial pledge if Indonesia failed to meet its
1999 commitment, including enactment of the controversial water
resources bill.
Nadia Hadad of the International NGO Forum on Indonesian
Development (INFID) told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that the
World Bank was not satisfied with several new articles in the
bill, including the ban on selling and purchasing rights to use
water and the scrapping of farmers' roles in managing water
irrigation systems.
The latest draft of the water resources bill states that the
right to use water must not be traded. In the old version,
presumably drafted under the auspices of the World Bank, it said
that the right to use water could be leased or transferred, in
part or in whole, to other people after acquiring approval from
authorities that granted water use rights, namely the government.
The latest draft also has no clear stipulation on whether or
not water irrigation systems would be managed by the government
or farmers as the World Bank wanted.
Nadia said the bill must clearly stipulate that water is a
social and public commodity only instead of a social and economic
commodity.
"If water is conceptualized as a social and economic
commodity, it will have the consequence that water can be traded
and private companies will dominate the water sector," she said.
According to Nadia, poor people would suffer most if water
were treated as an economic commodity as their low financial
capability would prevent them from having access to affordable,
potable water.
Nila Ardhiani of the Indonesian NGO Forum on Globalization
(INFOG) said the bill should impose a strict limitation on
private companies to, for example, own shares in tap water
businesses.
"By allotting minimal shareholdings to private firms, the
government can still dominate water management and ensure that
people will get water," she said.
Nila said, for example, private firms had been allowed to
control Jakarta's tap water business, but they had still failed
to distribute tap water to all Jakartans and improve the service.
"Minimal share ownership for private firms should also be
clearly imposed on other businesses that are related to the water
sector," she said.
According to Nila, it was high time for the government to
revise the bill to meet public expectations.
"Ignoring the World Bank's warning is one step toward meeting
the public expectations, but the government must also revise the
bill," she said.