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.