Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo’s recent decree has made the groundwater tax increase legally binding, in an effort to reduce land subsidence, an official says.
“It was signed by the governor recently, and we are about to submit it to the City Council,” head of the city’s Environment Management Agency (BPLHD) Peni Susanti said Tuesday.
She said the new tax rate was between six to 16 times the current tax rate, depending on the tax payers’ category, which included non-business entities as well as small and large businesses.
Once the new tax applies, households may have to pay as much as Rp 8,800 (US 88 cents) per cubic meter of water, or 16 times the previous amount of Rp 525 per cubic meter, while businesses may have to pay as much as Rp 23,000 per cubic meter, or about six times the previous amount of Rp 3,300 per cubic meter.
BPLHD official Dian Wiwekowati said the groundwater tax increase had been included in the gubernatorial Decree No. 37/2009, adding the administration would notify the public when the new fees would apply.
It is the first time groundwater tax has been increased in nearly nine years. The administration
had earlier announced its plan to raise groundwater tax to address the massive land subsidence problem in the city.
Experts warn Jakarta’s ground level has decreased by as much as 1.5 meters within the past few decades as a result of groundwater over-consumption. The BPLHD said several areas in East Jakarta, including Pulogadung and Matraman, and South Jakarta’s Pasar Minggu and Pasar Rebo, had subsided by between 8 and 12 meters.
Jakarta’s households and private companies prefer using groundwater as their main water supply, despite water operators already providing many of these households and companies with tap water.
Both water operators, PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) and PT Aetra Air Jakarta, have noted that a high number of their registered customers do not use tap water at all.
Out of Palyja’s 160,000 registered customers who use less than 10 cubic meters of tap water a month, some 78,000 do not use any tap water. Similarly, out of Aetra’s 155,000 customers who use less than 10 cubic meters of tap water a month, 60,000 do not use any tap water.
The decree is likely to help the city administration persuade the city’s residents to rely on tap water, as it aims conserve 3.1 million cubic meters of groundwater.
Muhayar Rustamuddin, a member of city council commission D for the environment, said he fully supported the groundwater tax increase because a further decrease in the limited supply of ground-
water would heavily degrade the environment.
“The council has even suggested groundwater rates should be higher than tap water’s”, he said.
Head of the commission, Sayogo Hendrosubroto, said he hoped the gubernatorial decree could be passed soon, although he quickly added the decree would still be legally binding without the council’s approval.
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