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arious NGOs gathered Saturday to discuss the fallout from funding water access with international loans, as the 42nd annual board of governors' meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) kicked off in Nusa Dua.

The NGOs debtWATCH Indonesia, People's Coalition for the Right to Water (Kruha) and the People's Alliance for the Citarum River (ARUM) held a forum Friday titled Right to Water and the Role of International Financial Institutions.

Sri Lanka's Center for Environmental Justice and the Philippines' Freedom from Debt Coalition also took part in the discussion.

Kruha national coordinator Hamong Santono said loans provided by international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the ADB, for water supply access had blocked local people from their own water resources.

"Financial institutions' policy sees water as an economical good. Use of water is divided into forms of commercialization, modification and privatization," he said.

"Those institutions always interfere in a debtor's water use policy.

"For instance, when Indonesia took a US$300 million loan from the World Bank in 1999 to reform its water resources, the government produced Law No. 7/2004 on Water Resources, which strongly emphasizes water's economic value.

"The law allows the private sector to provide clean water services for the people."

Hamong said exploitation for profit and privatization had flourished in Indonesia, thanks to the water resource law.

"Since then, private companies have competed to provide clean water to the people," he said.

"We urge financial institutions, like the ADB, to change their point of view on water. Stop considering water an economic good."

ARUM coordinator Dadang Sudarja called for a review of the $500 million Integrated Citarum Water Resource Management Investment Project (ICWRMIP).

"There are five points on the project that need further explanation to help local people living near the Citarum River," he said.

"The points are on resettlement plans, PR policy, strategic environmental assessment, multi-tranche financing facility schemes, and the project's funding.

"Should the five points not be clearly explained, we suggest the government halt the project."

The country received the first phase of funding, worth $50 million, early this year. The fund is for the renovation of the West Tarum Canal in Karawang and Bekasi, West Java.