The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Effects of a diminishing water supply amid ever-increasing demand, combined with an aging infrastructure, are proving a growing nuisance for Jakartans.
""Sinda"" returned from her daily morning walk Wednesday to find the water supply in her apartment building in Kuningan, South Jakarta, was switched off by the management.
There was not a drop to clean dishes, wash clothes or bathe for the young mother of one, as well as the thousands of others in the sprawling complex.
""In a way, it's a good thing, because we save water when we have it, but in another, we still end up wasting it anyway,"" she said of the management's decision to allow water usage for only five hours a day, citing reduced supply from tap water provider PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja).
Add her name to the chorus of tap water customers who have demanded the authorities annul a policy to raise water rates automatically every six months for three consecutive years, saying the water companies must improve their services first.
The campaign finally achieved its desired results Thursday, when Governor Sutiyoso agreed not to effect this month's fifth rate increase since 2004 and promised to evaluate the policy.
But PT Thames PAM Jaya (TPJ), one of the partners to city water company PT PAM Jaya, claimed Friday that it would not be able to improve its services because of the rate hike deferral.
""Without the automatic rate adjustment, the effort to increase our services to the public will be delayed,"" TPJ spokesman Rhamses Simanjuntak said at a press conference at the company's office.
""The current water price is insufficient to meet our operational and investment needs.""
Rhamses argued the company's only source of income was customer payments. He explained that the amount obtained from the water rate was used to purchase raw water and the chemicals needed for its processing; to pay the salaries of employees; to cover the daily expenditures of PAM Jaya, the Jakarta Water Regulating Body; to repay debts at the Finance Ministry; and also to recoup past revenue losses.
""Our scheme of self-financing will never be achieved without the automatic price hike,"" said Rhamses.
For 2006's second semester, PAM Jaya, PT Palyja and TPJ requested a 14 percent hike in the rate of Rp 5,932 per cubic meter.
""We will still have to work even without the increase, but projects will be delayed without the cashflow,"" said Rhamses.
PAM Jaya and its two foreign partners, TPJ and PT Lyonnaise Jaya, had intended to reduce water losses, which last year ran to 49 percent, to 41 percent by the beginning of this semester.
However, more leakages and water thefts have caused losses to reach 51 percent, reducing PAM Jaya's revenues by Rp 80 billion.
""An increase in our services can be seen as the fruit of the investment,"" said Rhamses.
Among its plans for this semester, TPJ will reduce water supplies to areas with high water pressure, and channel water to areas with lower pressure in order to achieve equitable water disbursement.
""Enhancing our services will still be the focus. The water hike is not to gain profits,"" Rhamses said.
But more consumers may soon be facing water shortages.
TPJ, as the water supply operator for the East Jakarta area, also announced a raw water shortage due to decreased flow from the Tarum Barat Canal in Kalimalang, East Jakarta.
TPJ added that aside from being unable to obtain sufficient quantities of raw water to process, they also had to reduce their raw water consumption so Paljyja could still obtain a sufficient raw water supply for West Jakarta.
It warned it would reduce the production of clean water as much as 15 percent, and eventually affect the amount received by its customers. (10)
