PAM, tap water firms fall short of promise on drinkable water
PAM, tap water firms fall short of promise on drinkable water
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta residents may have to put aside their dream to be able to
drink piped water directly from the tap, as was previously
promised by the City-owned tap water corporation and its two
foreign partners, Thames PAM Jaya (TPJ) and PAM Lyonnaise Jaya
(Palyja).
"Previously, we were targeting to be able to produce potable
water by 2007 ... But, it seems we can only start the first stage
of preparations for potable water production in 2007," Rhamses
Simanjuntak, a director with TPJ said at a hearing with the City
Council's commission D on development affairs.
Rhamses admitted that many TPJ customers had lodged complaints
regarding poor quality tap water.
Rhamses added that his company had to make extra efforts to
treat water due to the heavy pollution in rivers that are used as
water sources.
The poor quality of the raw water supply also makes the
company's water treatment costs expensive, especially during the
dry season when pollution levels rise.
"Actually, the water is already treated so that it is clean
and not smelly. However, it is subsequently contaminated due to
the old pipes still in use," Rhamses claimed.
Most pipeline networks currently used by TPJ and Palyja were
built during the Dutch colonial period.
Meanwhile, a senior executive with Palyja, Bernard Lafronge
complained of fluctuating volumes of water supplies as being the
main cause of the operators' failure to provide a continuous flow
of tap water.
"The supply of untreated water has never been steady for the
seven years of our operations. The volume is also below the
supply we need," Lafronge said.
It was no surprise, Lafronge said, that many customers
complained about repeated disruptions to their water supply.
TPJ, which is a subsidiary of Britain's Thames Water
International, supplies customers in the east of Jakarta, while
Palyja, a subsidiary of France's ONDEO (formerly Lyonaisse des
Eaux), serves customers in the western part of the city. The two
companies cater to the water needs of some 705,000 customers
across the city.
Both companies signed 25-year collaboration agreements in
1998.
During the hearing, the two companies acknowledged that they
had suspended investment over the last seven years because of the
effects of the protracted economic crisis, which forced the
administration not to increase water tariffs despite inflation.
"But, starting this year and up until 2007, we plan to start
significant investment in the business totaling Rp 634 billion,"
Lafronge said.
TPJ would be following suit, investing Rp 432.79 billion
between 2005 and 2007, mostly for the extension of the pipeline
network.