Commit or don’t get paid, PAM says

City-owned water operator PAM Jaya has warned its private partners to fulfill their investment targets, and threatened to otherwise cut its payments.

“PAM Jaya will question them at the end of the year,” company director Haryadi Priyohutomo said Friday in Jakarta.“The water charge must be decreased if the investment target is not reached.”

The water charge is the price PAM Jaya pays to the private water operators to supply water to households.

Haryadi was speaking in response to a statement from PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) president director Philippe Folliasson, who said the private operator might only reach Rp 150 billion (US$14.6 million) in investment, short of the targeted Rp 200 billion.

Folliasson admitted his company would find it difficult to meet the investment target, having already spent Rp 80 billion in the first half of the year.

“We’ll try our best to reach Rp 150 billion, should the administration approve the tap water rate hike,” he said Friday after a meeting with Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo at City Hall.

Fauzi said the meeting did not specifically discuss the proposed rate increase.

“Palyja said it would make use of any opportunity to back up its investment plan,” the governor pointed out. “The large amount in the investment plan cannot be covered by a rate increase alone.”

Haryadi said the investment plan should not burden consumers.