Water shortage hits 117,000 customers

Water shortage hits 117,000 customers

JAKARTA (JP): At least 117,000 customers in West and South
Jakarta are suffering from water shortages, caught in the middle
of a dispute over the price of water between Jakarta and
Tangerang water companies.

A spokeswoman for the city's joint-venture tap water company
PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja), Maria Sidabutar, revealed on
Thursday that 90,000 of its customers in West Jakarta and 27,000
in South Jakarta were affected by the shortage.

Maria said the shortage was due to a decrease in supplies from
the Tangerang regency-owned water company PAM Tangerang to Palyja
from the usual level of 2,200 liters per second to 1,500 liters
per second, following a disagreement over the price of water
between the two companies.

PAM Tangerang had demanded a 25 percent increase in the price
it charged from the current price of Rp 915 per cubic meter, but
Palyja had simply refused to pay, saying that the increase was
too high.

"We are still negotiating over the price. We expect help from
senior officials to mediate in the dispute," Maria told The
Jakarta Post over the phone.

Palyja, a joint venture between city-owned water company PAM
Jaya and French based Lyonnaise des Eaux, has about 275,000
customers, mostly in western parts of Jakarta.

Areas likely to be affected by the shortages include
Kalideres, Warung Gantung, Rawa Lele and Citra 1, Cengkareng,
Taman Surya V, Palem Lestari, Perumahan KSP, Bulak Wadon
apartments, Tegal Alur, Meruya, Duri Mas, Duri Kepa, Kebon Jeruk,
Komplek Kodam and Sang Timur, Villa Kelapa Dua, Taman Duta Mas,
Sukabumi Utara, Pejaten, Pasar Minggu, Pondok Indah and its
environs.

A number of residents in West Jakarta contacted on Thursday
confirmed that they had been receiving less tap water over the
past few days. Hundreds of residents in the Joglo area and Alpha
Indah housing complex, West Jakarta, complained about the water
shortages.

"We haven't had any water for the past three days," said a
housewife in the Alpha Indah housing complex, West Jakarta.

The water shortage is the second to hit the city in less than
two months. In late May, hundreds of thousands of tap water
customers in North, East and some parts of Central Jakarta were
deprived of their water supplies following the collapse of a dike
on the West Tarum Canal, Kali Malang, East Jakarta.

It took almost two weeks to complete the rehabilitation of the
dike and to restore supplies of untreated water to the water
processing plants belonging to Palyja and another joint venture
water company, PT Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ).

Maria said that Palyja had tried to increase the output of
treated water from its Pejompongan water treatment plant using
additional untreated water from Kali Malang. But this was still
not enough to solve the problem.

"We are so dependent on water supplies from PAM Tangerang,"
she said, noting that the untreated water supply from Kali Malang
was also limited.

Separately, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said on Thursday that he
had contacted Tangerang Regent Agus Djunara, his subordinate in
the military, to help resolve the dispute over water charges, but
to no avail.

If the dispute continued, Sutiyoso threatened that Jakarta
would halt its water purchases from PAM Tangerang as the latter
had arbitrarily reduced its water supply to Jakarta.

"I have ordered city-owned PAM Jaya and its partner Palyja to
gradually decrease our dependency on Tangerang. If necessary, we
could sever our (business) relations with Tangerang," Sutiyoso
told reporters.

He said that PAM Tangerang was demanding a large increase in
the price it charged for water to Palyja because the Tangerang
water company was continuing to suffer losses.

"Don't transfer the losses to Jakarta by increasing water
charges," he said, without mentioning the level of the losses.

PAM Tangerang's executives could not be contacted for comment
on Thursday. (jun)