PAM Jaya changes schedules

PAM Jaya changes schedules

JAKARTA (JP): The city-owned water company PAM Jaya will open its subdistrict level counters throughout the city three days more than usual as of next month.

Under the new schedule, every counter will open for 15 days a month as compared to only 12 days at present.

The company said that the new schedule is meant to guarantee better service to consumers.

"The new schedule is also aimed at giving our customers more of a chance to arrange time to pay their water bills to prevent them from having to stand in long lines in front of the counters," Bambang Suranto, the business director of the company, said on Wednesday.

The company also reported that the volume of water pilferage remains high, with water theft and leakage accounting for 44.8 percent of the firm's water production of about 344.22 million cubic meters last year.

By comparison, the volume of water pilferage and leakage reached 47.43 percent of the company's water production of 339.18 million cubic meters in 1993.

Machmud Ranusemito, the administration and financial affairs director, said that the firm has difficulty catching the water thieves because most of the pilferage is done very carefully.

"According to the latest records, in West Jakarta alone 593 consumers were accused of stealing water from PAM Jaya last year," said H. Mohamad Dais, head of the West Jakarta office of the water company.

"Consumers pilfering the water included owners of hotels, massage parlors and steam baths," he said, adding that they were located on Jl. Gajah Mada and Jl. Hayam Wuruk.

Dais said that some of the thieves have been taken to court and that one customer in Slipi had been given six months imprisonment.

From September 1992 to late last year there were 822 cases of water pilferage registered by PAM Jaya throughout the City. The pilferage caused the company to suffer losses amounting to Rp 3.3 billion (US$1.5 million). (yns/31)