YLKI urges court settlement for water agreement dispute

JAKARTA (JP): Zoemrotin KS, an executive of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), urged the city-owned water company PDAM Jaya yesterday to settle its current dispute with its local and foreign business partners in court.

She said settling the dispute in court would likely constitute the best solution to clarify whether or not collusion was really involved in the awarding of the contracts.

"Terminate the agreement contracts if collusion is discovered or if the private partners have really neglected their obligations, as is being alleged by PDAM," she said.

Zoemrotin made the remarks after delivering a speech at a seminar on PDAM's deal with the private companies held by the Association of Indonesian Water Works Contractors.

"I believe that the deal was awarded to the private companies under the influence of the 'K3N' (collusion, corruption, cronyism and nepotism) practices," she said.

The fact that the private companies got the project without open tendering was a strong indication of that, she said.

"The other indication was that the companies which won the projects were actually 'those kind of people'", Zoemrotin said referring to PDAM's private partners PT Garuda Dipta Semesta (GDS) and PT Kekar-Thames Airindo (Kita).

She demanded that officials at PDAM, the city administration and other institutions which were allegedly involved in the decision process from the outset also be investigated.

"All officials, including the governor or minister who were involved in the project from the beginning must not refrain from sharing the responsibility. It's not fair if we only accuse officials who are in charge at the moment," said Zoemrotin.

Governor Sutiyoso gave his approval in February for PDAM to work with GDS, a joint venture between tycoon Sudono Salim's business empire and French firm Lyonnaise des Eaux, and Kati, a joint venture between former President Soeharto's eldest son Sigit Hardjojudanto's Kekarpola Airindo and British firm Thames Water International, on 25-year cooperation agreements.

PDAM's director, Rama Boedi, surprisingly announced his company's takeover of the water management and operation activities from GDS and Kati on May 23, accusing the latter of neglecting their technical and financial obligations as partners.

The takeover decision was endorsed by the governor's Letter of Instruction No. 131 dated May 22, he said.

On May 26, some 3,000 PDAM employee, including Rama himself, publicly voiced their determination at the company's Bendungan Hilir headquarters to end their cooperation with GDS and Kati.

Zoemrotin, however, was against Rama's takeover policy, saying it was a one-sided decision.

"Rama, and even the governor himself, should have proved all the allegations against the private partners first before deciding to take over the management from them," she said.

Separately, deputy governor for administrative affairs Abdul Kahfi indicated yesterday that the contracts between PDAM and its partners GDS and Kati were still effective.

Kahfi said the current dispute was only a matter of misunderstanding and that the two private companies might resume their activities as soon as the case was clarified by all parties.

"But, when the cooperation will resume or how it will be implemented afterward totally depends on the governor," he said.

Kahfi said that PDAM had misinterpreted the governor's instruction. PDAM tended to see the instruction as a command to terminate the contract, he added.

"The instruction just ordered PDAM to quickly take action to anticipate the absence of water services," he said.

He said that his office was still discussing the matter with PDAM and its partners.

However, Kahfi rejected Zoemrotin's idea of settling the dispute in court. "Let's not go that far," he said. (cst/ind)