Water company slammed for plan to hike charges

Water company slammed for plan to hike charges

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The public urged city-owned tap water company PAM Jaya on
Saturday to improve its services and water quality instead of
raising water rates.

"I just don't understand why the company never considers
improving its services. Sometimes the quality of its water is
extremely poor. Sometimes its water is muddy and smells bad, and
often it doesn't even flow," said Maria Widianingrum, a resident
of Cipinang in East Jakarta, who has been a customer of the
company for three years.

Maria, an accountant, said she paid a water bill of Rp 100,000
every month even though she could not use the water for cooking
or drinking.

She said the city administration should not approve the water
company's plan to increase water rates before the company
improved its services and the quality of its water.

"I wouldn't be surprised, though, if the city administration
approves the increase. It always does the same thing with bus
fares, parking charges, you name it," she said.

During a meeting with the City Council on Thursday, PAM Jaya
and its foreign partners, Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ) and Pam Lyonaisse
Jaya (Palyja), presented their proposal to increase water rates
by 35 percent. Currently it charges between Rp 200,000 and Rp
3,000 per cubic meter.

Governor Sutiyoso has supported the planned increase, saying
the administration would apply a cross-subsidy policy.

"Water rates for the average household will be slightly
increased, but for wealthy customers, the charges could be
sharply increased," Sutiyoso said.

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) slammed the
administration for indicating that it would approve the water
company's proposal to increase water rates.

"It's a bad gift from Sutiyoso, who was newly reelected as
city governor. Instead of asking the company to improve its
services and product quality, he has agreed to the increase,"
YLKI's legal and consumer complaint head Tulus Abadi said on
Saturday.

Tulus said the company should first improve its services
before proposing an increase.

He said that most of the complaints that the foundation
received were about water rates, while others complained about
electricity rates and telephone charges.

Councillor Syamsidar Siregar supported Tulus' view, saying the
council would not approve the proposal to increase water rates
before the company improves its services.

"We have yet to receive the (official) proposal to increase
water rates, and we will reject such a proposal," said Syamsidar,
who is a member of the council's special team assigned to discuss
problems related to the water firm.

In Thursday's meeting, the company claimed the increase was
needed to cover increased operational costs and inflation.

PAM Jaya signed a cooperation agreement with TPJ and Palyja in
1997 and increased its water rates by 35 percent in October last
year.

PAM Jaya still owes the World Bank Rp 1.7 trillion, and has
posted Rp 700 billion in losses since 1997.

TPJ, which is a subsidiary of Britain's Thames Water
International, supplies customers in the eastern part of Jakarta
while Palyja, which is a subsidiary of France's ONDEO (formerly
Lyonaisse des Eaux), serves customers in the western part of
Jakarta. Both companies serve about 650,000 customers in Jakarta.