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.