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.