Water consumers seek intervention in planned tariff hike

Water consumers seek intervention in planned tariff hike

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Activists of the Jakarta Water Consumers Community (Komparta)
reported the city administration to the National Ombudsman
Commission on Tuesday for its plan to increase the tap water
tariff at regular intervals but arbitrary rates.

Komparta executive director Armstrong J.J. Sembiring said the
planned increase would be effective January 2005, although a
district court had ordered the administration to suspend a hike
imposed in December 2003.

The administration also plans to implement a tariff increase
every six months to meet the demands of PT Thames PAM Jaya (TPJ)
and PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja), the two foreign partners of
city water operator PD PAM Jaya.

"I hope the Commission will issue a recommendation to stop the
administration's arbitrary tariff hike policy. If it goes ahead
with the policy, the city will be ignoring a court verdict," said
Sembiring.

The Central Jakarta District Court ruled on Jan. 29 in favor
of the plaintiff, Komparta, ordering the administration to
suspend a 40 percent increase in the tap water tariff it had
imposed on Dec. 31, 2003, and improve its services before it
imposed any further hikes.

Sembiring arrived at the ombudsman commission on Jl.
Adityawarman, South Jakarta, with Suta Widhya, an individual
consumer, with whom he had already filed a similar complaint with
the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM). The two
have also reported TPJ and Palyja to the city police over their
poor services.

During their meeting with the commission, Suta submitted
copies of letters from many water consumers who had lodged
various complaints, from disrupted supply to poor water quality.

"The water supply to my house has been disrupted for nearly
two years. We have water only during the day, as the water stops
at 7 p.m. every day," Suta said, adding that his neighbors
suffered a similar problem.

"I hope the administration will not increase the water tariff
before the operators improve their services," he said.

According to ombudsman commission secretary Elisa, the
commission will study Komparta's complaints before it makes any
recommendations to relevant institutions, including the city
administration, the City Council and tap water operators.

She said the commission had received complaints from both
individuals and organizations over poor public services by
various government institutions, with 200 complaints received as
of October. Last year, the commission received 300 total
complaints.

The National Ombudsman Commission was established under
Presidential Decree No. 44/2000 and is tasked with following up
on reports and information received as regards irregularities
committed by state institutions.

As the existing commission has no legal power to punish errant
officials or institutions, it has submitted a bill on the scope
of its authority to the House of Representatives.

The bill stipulates that any state officials or institutions
that ignore the commission's recommendations could receive
administrative punishment, including dismissals.