Sutiyoso defends water handling deal
Sutiyoso defends water handling deal
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso insisted on Tuesday that he
would not revoke the existing water supply agreement between city
water company PDAM Jaya and its two foreign partners, as was
demanded by PDAM Jaya workers.
According to the governor, the city administration would face
lawsuits from the foreign firms -- PT Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ) and
PT Pam Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) -- if it canceled the deal without
clear legal reasons.
"The firms would ask for compensation since they have invested
money here... and it's not small money," he said.
"Revoking the deal will not be a best choice."
The cancellation of the agreement would put PDAM Jaya in a
difficult position since it still has foreign debt worth Rp 800
billion (US$100 million), Sutiyoso said.
The governor would not name the creditors.
He said that the two firms, which are subsidiaries of
Britain's Thames Water International and France's Lyonnaise des
Eaux, stated in the water deal that they would help settle the
foreign debt.
Sutiyoso again refused to give further details.
He claimed that the revocation of the agreement would also
affect the country's economy, as foreign companies would be made
reluctant to invest here.
At least 500 people in the Pam Jaya workers union demonstrated
at the City Council on Monday, demanding that Sutiyoso cancel the
19-month-old water agreement by the end of September at the
latest. They said that otherwise they would disrupt the city's
water supply.
Carrying banners, posters, a coffin and effigies of Sutiyoso
and the council's former speaker, Edy Waluyo, the workers asked
the council to press the governor to revoke the deal.
The council's provisional leaders, Supangat from the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and
Abdul Aziz Matnur from the Justice Party, said the council would
do everything within its power to return the management of the
city's water supply to PDAM Jaya.
"We will try to return water management to PDAM Jaya by the
end of this month at the latest," Supangat who seemed influenced
by the workers' emotion, told the demonstrators.
Sutiyoso promised on Tuesday that the city administration
would improve the conditions of the water agreement, signed in
February last year, in order to satisfy all related parties.
"The renegotiation is still underway. We are making several
corrections to avoid losses to the city administration," he said,
without giving details.
Asked to comment on PDAM Jaya workers' threat to cut the water
supply, Sutiyoso said that this would only make the people
suffer.
"The workers' threat is an old song. The public would be angry
if the workers tried to disrupt the water supply," he said. (jun)