PAM Jaya delays imposition of new water price
JAKARTA (JP): In response to the public outcry, the City Water Company (PAM Jaya) has postponed the price increase for public water-taps until September of this year.
The announcement was made by the company's director of administration and finance, Mahmud Ranusemitro, following an inspection by City Council's commission C on economy and commission D on development to North Jakarta on Tuesday afternoon.
Nevertheless Mahmud said the postponement was not a result of pressure from either the public or city councilors.
"The reason for the delay is to allow traders and consumers to adjust themselves to the new tariff," he said. He added that the company has ordered traders not to raise water prices during the transition period .
To the dismay of many, at the beginning of this month PAM Jaya raised its water prices by an average of 40 percent for households and over 300 percent for water-taps.
The increase from Rp 250 to Rp 780 per cubic meter at public water-taps has driven retail prices up by 100 percent for people who purchase their water from water vendors.
The substantial raise initially met with staunch protests from the City Council. It was only after a long and heated debate with PAM Jaya last week did the council acquiesce.
When the increase was first announced, PAM Jaya had prohibited the merchants managing public taps from increasing their prices.
This proved to be futile, however, as prices at some water- taps in North Jakarta rose from Rp 350 to Rp 650 per jug. Each jug contains 20 liters.
Based on PAM Jaya's postponement, the new prices will not be applied until the August water bill which is paid in September.
According to Mahmud, the reason for the huge increase at water-taps is the large subsidies PAM Jaya had to bear.
He revealed that at the old price of Rp 250 per cubic meter, the company has to subsidize Rp 730. With the new price of Rp 780 the company bears just Rp 320 per cubic meter.
There are 2,242 public water-taps in Jakarta, with each tap serving about 100 households. Many of the water taps are located in North Jakarta, where it is difficult to obtain clean water.
"We are adding more so it will reach 4,000 units by 1997," he said.
Visit
Despite the postponement, the chairmen of the City Council's Commission C and D, Helmy A.R. Syihab and Mansyur Achmad, still received complaints from five owners of public water taps who visited the council yesterday.
They expressed dismay at PAM Jaya's price increase while at the same time prohibiting tap owners to raise their price.
"We would have understood if it had been an increase of ten to thirty percent but a 312 percent increase in water prices...it's too much!" Nurdin, one of the delegation members, said.
"The increase will force unskilled laborers with daily wages of Rp 3,900 to spend half of their income on water alone," he added.
In response to pleas form tap owners, Mahmud had previously said a retail price ceiling (HET) will be set very soon.
Tamaria M., another tap owner, said yesterday she could not understand why the company is burdening the common customer with their debt obligations. Tamaria is apparently referring to PAM Jaya's huge debt to foreign creditors.
"If PAM Jaya cannot pay its debts, why doesn't it open an aid- relief section in the newspapers like the one for quake victims," she said.
It must be noted, however, that in the last two years PAM Jaya has earned a before tax revenue of Rp 14.9 billion in 1992 and Rp 13.4 billion in 1993. (arf/mds)