Water supplier gets tough on illegal connections
Water supplier gets tough on illegal connections
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In a bid to reduce water theft that causes financial losses, PT
Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ) water company cut illegal connections in
North Jakarta on Tuesday.
Workers from TPJ and top officials from city-owned tap water
company PAM Jaya, guarded by policemen and security guards, cut
14 illegal water connections in Sukapura and Rawa Badak
subdistricts in Cakung, North Jakarta.
Only a little resistance was met from residents whose illegal
water connections were severed.
TPJ communication and external relations director Rhamses
Simanjuntak said the cut connections were among thousands of
illegal connections in the capital that had contributed
significantly to the company's financial losses.
From a single illegal connection, as found in Sukapura, the
company had suffered Rp 130 million (US$15,294.12) financial
losses since 2001.
He said that the water theft level in Jakarta was still high
compared to cities of neighboring countries.
"Forty-three percent of the water running into city
installations is being used without payment, what we call
nonrevenue water," he told reporters during the exercise.
Rhamses said that TPJ aimed to reduce the nonrevenue water
level to 40 percent by the end of 2003.
"With such abundant illegal water connections, a 3 percent
reduction would be quite difficult for us."
Data jointly issued recently by TPJ and another water firm, PT
Pam Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja), showed that TPJ decreased its losses
from 57.6 percent in 1998 to 43.5 percent in December 2002 and
Palyja from 61 percent to 43.3 percent for the same period.
TPJ and Palyja have supplied tap water to city residents since
1998. TPJ, which is a subsidiary of Britain's Thames Water
International, supplies customers in eastern Jakarta while
Palyja, a subsidiary of France's ONDEO (formerly Lyonnaise des
Eaux), serves customers in the western parts of the city.
Earlier, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) urged PAM
Jaya to focus on reducing water theft and other losses to lessen
its operational costs rather than burdening customers with price
increases.
It said that if the theft rate remained high, it would expand
the operators' operational costs, which include the price of
various chemicals added during water treatment.
YLKI demanded that tap water operators reduce the theft level
to 35 percent by the end of 2002.
PAM Jaya president director Didiet Haryadi voiced suspicion
that company staff were involved in making the illegal
connections.
"Considering how the main pipeline was cut, I suspect it was
the work of our own staff," he said.
Didiet said he would dismiss any personnel proved involved in
establishing illegal connections.