Palyja inaugurates Rp 14b water treatment plant in Cilandak

JAKARTA (JP): Water management firm PT Pam Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) inaugurated its Rp 14.8 billion (US$1.85 million) water treatment plant on Wednesday in Cilandak, South Jakarta.

Palyja president Pierre Alla said the plant would help double the production capacity of its Cilandak installation to 400 liters per second.

"We hope that it can serve our customers better, especially those living in the southern part of Jakarta," Alla said.

The new water treatment plant will serve 130,000 customers living on or near Jl. Ampera Raya, Jl. TB. Simatupang, Jl. RS Fatmawati and in the areas of Cipete, Pondok Labu and Ragunan.

He said construction of the treatment plant, which started in September last year, was carried out by local contractors under the supervision of Palyja, a subsidiary of French firm Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux.

Alla also inaugurated the beginning of a two-kilometer pipeline project worth Rp 7.2 billion, which spans from Jl. Perjuangan to Jl. Kedoya, West Jakarta.

The pipeline project is expected to improve service for 150,000 people living in area, he said.

Palyja commissioner Bernard Lafrogne said on Tuesday the project was the firm's commitment to investment as stated in a cooperation agreement with city-owned water firm PDAM Jaya.

He said in the agreement, which is being renegotiated, that Palyja would help PDAM Jaya settle its debt worth Rp 1.6 trillion with the World Bank and Japanese Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF).

When asked to comment on the dismissal of 12 PDAM Jaya workers, who were seconded at Palyja, Lafrogne said the decision was conducted according to legal procedure.

"We sent written notices to them three times before PDAM Jaya dismissed them," he said.

He said the 12 workers would be reported to the police for occupying PDAM Jaya's logistics office, technical office and customer service center.

The workers, who were mostly activists from the PAM Jaya workers union, were dismissed on Monday for damaging the firm's image by allegedly conducting a series of protests over the last six months. (jun)