Tarum canal needs repairs

JAKARTA (JP): There are 30 fractures along the 60-kilometer Tarum canal, which supplies untreated water for the city, but the city administration lacks funds to repair them, an official said.

If they are not repaired soon, they will collapse and disrupt the water supply to the city, president of the city-owned water firm PDAM Jaya Muzahim Muchtar said.

"The repair of the canal is the central government's responsibility. We lack the funds to help repair it," Muzahim told reporters at City Hall.

He said one critical point in the canal, which was more than 30 years old, would require Rp 700 million (US$77,777) to repair, meaning that Rp 21 billion would be needed to repair all the 30 fractures.

He said the canal, spanning 60 kilometers from Jatiluhur dam in West Java to East Jakarta, supplied 80 percent of the untreated water needed by the city.

He said the remaining 20 percent was taken from the Ciliwung river, here, and the Cisadane river in Tangerang.

"If the supply is disrupted it would affect thousands of customers here," Muzahim said.

The majority of the city's 500,000 customers suffered water shortages when the Tarum canal's water dike in Bekasi, eastern Jakarta collapsed on May 21.

It needed more than a week to repair the dike until the water supply was back to normal.

The water supply from Jatiluhur dam is processed in the city's three water treatment plants, in Pejompongan, Central Jakarta, Buaran and Pulo Gadung in East Jakarta.

Muzahim said his tap water firm currently produced 2,000 liters of clean water per second.

PDAM Jaya cooperates with two foreign partners PT Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ) and PT Pam Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja). (jun)