Piped water to be available to 60% of city population
JAKARTA (JP): The City Water Company (PDAM Jaya) has said that it will be able to serve 60 percent of Jakarta's 8.4 million population when the development of the Buaran II water treatment plant is completed by the end of this year.
"We've been informed by the company's finance director that 85 percent of the plant's construction is already finished," Abdulgani H. Abdullah, the chairman of the City Council's Commission B on economy, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
Abdulgani, together with other members of Commission B, visited Buaran I and II treatment plants in East Jakarta on Monday. The inspection came after a hearing with PDAM Jaya's management on how the company plans to provide the city with tapped water during the current dry season. Buaran I and II has an installed capacity of 5,000 liters per second.
Water supply from the Buaran I and II plant was designed to meet the needs of North and East Jakarta.
PDAM Jaya finance director Machmud Ranusemito said 37 percent of the company's overall installed capacity of 12,500 liters per second was unaccounted for due to leaky pipes.
"Thus far we have replaced only 54 percent of old pipes," Machmud said. He added that lack of funds was the major problem faced by the company in the replacement of old equipment.
Abdulgani said that PDAM Jaya has procured loans from the World Bank to finance a water pipe replacement project.
PDAM Jaya has repeatedly complained that the installment fees set by the World Bank were too steep for them to carry. This was the main reason put forward by the city-owned company for increasing water prices in June for all groups of water consumers, including the price of public water taps.
Although the City Council agreed to the price hike in principle, the City Council's commission C and D protested the company's recent decision to raise the price of water from public valves by 200 percent from Rp 390 to Rp 780 (18 to 36 U.S. cents) per cubic meter.
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Some city councilors who were still unhappy with PDAM Jaya's decision to raise the price of public water spigots said they were campaigning to block the company's plan, which they said was legally questionable.
Sumari, the vice chairman of the City Council's Commission C on finance, told reporters yesterday that the Ministry of Home Affairs denied it had given a permit to the city-owned company to raise the price of public water taps.
"The fact that the ministry has denied that it gave approval for the increase means that the decision can still be revoked," Sumari said.
Previously, PDAM Jaya said it had gained approval from the governor and the Ministry of Home Affairs for the planned price increase. Pos Kota daily later reported, however, that the Ministry of Home Affairs did neither initiate the increase nor make any instructions to PDAM Jaya to increase the price.
Helmy A.R. Syihab, the commission C chairman, confirmed Sumari's remarks about the commission's campaign to annul the increase.
But if that failed, Helmy said the commission would ask PDAM Jaya to apply a ceiling price -- which, of course, would be higher than Rp 390.
To make the increase less painful, Helmy said, PDAM Jaya should give a compensation of, say, Rp 100 to Rp 150 per cubic meter to the owners of public water tanks so they will not increase the price of water they sell to water vendors. Vendors, in turn, should also not increase the water they sell to end- consumers.
Hence, the end-consumers of water from public water tanks, who mostly are low-income earners, will not have to bear the increase, Helmy added optimistically. (arf)