Water consumers urged to complain

Water consumers urged to complain

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The customer is king, so the saying goes, and Jakartans should
not hesitate to file complaints to tap water companies if there
are problems with the service, the firms say.

However, customers should not expect operators to supply them
with clean water during repair work to pipes, they said.

"(Mobile) water trucks are only prioritized for hospitals,
orphanages and state facilities," PT Thames PAM Jaya (TPJ)
operations center head Margie Tumbelaka told The Jakarta Post on
Friday. "We can only serve individual customers during major
repair work."

PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) public relations manager Maria
Sidabutar said operators could only provide water trucks upon
collective requests from customers during disruptions to supply.

In an effort to improve services to their customers, both
firms encouraged customers to lodge complaints on their telephone
hotlines.

And customers have been complaining. Data from the Indonesian
Drinking Water Society (MAMI) shows more than 9,000 complaints
have been lodged each month since early this year, with most
complaints concerning water cuts and leaking pipes.

Both companies have promised they would immediately respond to
any customer complaints.

"Besides calling our hotline, customers can also contact our
nearest district office during working hours to report any
leakages or file other complaints," Margie said.

All complaints would then be listed according to their
location and severity. TPJ would then send a team "the next day"
to check pipes in houses and repair any damage, she said.

"Simple problems like faulty water meters or a localized pipe
bursting can usually be fixed within a few hours. But if the
problem happens to be a leak in one of the main pipes, it could
take longer," Margie said. TPJ had skilled personnel and
sufficient equipment to exactly pinpoint what a problem was, she
said.

While, customers would have to fill in a repair work form,
they be exempt from any repair fees, Margie said. This was unless
the problem was determined to have been caused by the customer,
such as a water meter that had been tampered with.

Following the privatization of the city's tap water sector in
1998, tap water in Jakarta is managed by TPJ, serving customers
on the east of the Ciliwung River, and Palyja, serving customers
on the west.

The two operators are joint ventures between city tap water
operator PD PAM Jaya and British Thames Water International and
French Lyonnaise des Eaux, respectively.

Consumers can contact TPJ's hot line at (021) 5772010 and
Palyja's at (021) 57986555. The service is available 24 hours.