Water charges to be upped by 25%

JAKARTA: Governor Sutiyoso hinted on Sunday that he would approve increases in tap water rates by 25 percent on average, as proposed by the Tap Water Regulatory Body (BR PAM).

"The regulatory body has proposed a 25 percent increase in water tariffs. It has studied the calculations of the new tariff carefully," Sutiyoso was quoted by detik.com news portal as saying on Sunday.

He said that the new water tariff would be announced before Jan. 1, 2006.

The planned hike would be the third increase since the City Council issued a bylaw authorizing the Jakarta governor to make the decision on automatic tariff increases every six months until 2007.

The automatic tariff increase was been approved by the City Council in late 2004. But the current Council is seeking a revision to the automatic tariff increase.

Currently, the lowest tariff is Rp 900 (about 9 U.S. cents) per cubic meter for poor households, while the highest tariff is Rp 12,150 per cubic meter for well-off households and the business sector. --JP