Water charges up 40%, bus fares 20%

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Life for Jakartans will get tougher starting this month as they face a 40 percent increase in water charges and a 20 percent increase in bus fares.

After a seven-hour meeting that lasted until Monday night, City Council leaders claimed that in order to accommodate the interests of all concerned they had to approve City Governor Sutiyoso's proposal to increase water rates by 40 percent and bus fares by around 20 percent.

The new water rates will be effective on Tuesday with the exception of water charges for small consumers, while the date to start implementing the new bus fares will be decided by the governor.

Explaining the new water rates, City Council Deputy Speaker Chudlary Syafi'i told the press after the meeting that the Council set 10 requirements, which should be implemented by the water operators as a precondition for the increase.

"If the operators do not implement the conditions, the City Council will ask the city administration to revise this decision," said Chudlary.

The conditions require the operators to report to the City Council every three months; to reduce the number of expatriate employees and to reduce water leakage which still stands at 45 percent.

Previously, Sutiyoso proposed an increase of 45 percent in tap water charges from the current price of Rp 3,100 (about 35 U.S. cents) per cubic meter in response to the requests of two water operators and their local partners, PT Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ) of Britain and PT Pan Lyonaise Jaya (Palyja) of France.

The bus fare increases that were approved by the Council are as follows: regular bus fares to increase by 22 percent from Rp 900 to Rp 1,100, the express bus to increase by 17 percent from Rp 1,200 to Rp 1,400, and the medium-sized bus to increase by 20 percent from Rp 1,000 to 1,200.

But bus fares for students will stay at Rp 500.

Previously, figures proposed by the Jakarta Transportation Agency were Rp 1,150 or a 28 percent increase from the current fare for the regular bus, Rp 1,250 or a 25 percent increase for the medium-sized bus, and Rp 1,400 or a 17 percent increase for the express bus.

While the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda)'s version of the fare hike was Rp 1,200 or a 33 percent increase from the current fare for the regular bus, Rp 1,300 or a 30 percent increase for the medium-sized bus, and Rp 1,500 or a 25 percent increase for the express bus.

For the bus operators, the City Council also set a number of conditions including improvement in services. Operators are asked to standardize services, crack down on undisciplined drivers and to stick to bus routes.

Chairman of the Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) Azas Tigor Nainggolan said the increase would further burden Jakarta residents as it would also increase the prices of other goods.

"We're concerned about a domino effect which will spark an increase in other prices," he added.

Other objections came from the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), the Jakarta Water Consumers Aspiration Group, and the Community Association for Humanity and Justice (Humanika).