Thames and Palyja clarify on audit

Thames and Palyja clarify on audit

We write with reference to your article of April 10,
Discrepancy found in water firm debt, as this conveys an
inaccurate and misleading interpretation of the facts. In
particular, the article quotes the Regulatory Body as stating,
"the operator's debt was smaller than what had been claimed by
the two foreign partners" and referring to the Development
Finance Comptroller (BPKP) as the authoritative source. The
article also goes on to say "both TPJ and Palyja earlier claimed
that PDAM PAM Jaya's debt stood at Rp 990 billion, but the figure
from the comptroller's report was not available".

As a matter of record, the BPKP was commissioned by PAM Jaya
and its private partners to audit and verify the debt of PAM Jaya
to Palyja and TPJ for the period from Feb. 1, 1998, to March 31,
2001, only. To date this report has not been finalized and
remains unofficial. However, the preliminary BPKP report
indicated a high degree of agreement with the private parties'
own estimates, with only small variation in the calculation of
the debt. In addition, the period from April 2001 onward remains
to be verified.

The Rp 990 billion referred to actually originates from the
Regulatory Body during November last year when it stated in an
interview with another publication (Bisnis Indonesia, Nov. 22),
"PDAM Jaya has debts of Rp 1.7 trillion to the Finance Ministry
and another Rp 990 billion to TPJ and Palyja".

Recent decisions on tariffs by the Provincial Legislative
Council (DPRD) and the Jakarta Administration (DKI) during 2003
have gone a long way toward starting to rectify the situation,
although the majority of the debt remains to be paid at this
point. In all circumstances the amount of debt owing to the
private parties will be verified by independent sources as a
matter of course; therefore, to report a "discrepancy" and imply
that it is based on claims by TPJ or Palyja is unfounded and a
regrettable error.

JOHN TREW
President Director
PT Thames Pam Jaya
Jakarta
THIERRY KRIEG
President Director
PT PAM LYONNAISE JAYA
Jakarta