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lthough city-owned sewage company PD PAL Jaya was scheduled to conduct the ground breaking of the first of 14 zones for Jakarta'€™s sewage system, funding for the project remains unclear.

Head of infrastructure and the environment at the Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bappeda), Nursyam Daoed, said recently that the agreement between the city administration and the Public Works Ministry to share the costs had not been finalized.

'€œThere is an agreement between the Jakarta governor and the public works minister but it has not yet come into effect,'€ he said, adding that the central government was cooperating with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to secure funding.

Nursyam said the city administration had previously agreed to pay 30 percent of the project'€™s total Rp 70 trillion (US$5.97 billion) costs, while the ministry would cover the rest.

'€œHowever, the National Development Planning Board [Bappenas] considered the central government'€™s obligation was too great after realizing that the city would enjoy most of the benefits,'€ he said.

He added that discussions over the funding were still ongoing.

Nursyam said, however, that the Public Works Ministry had allocated Rp 50 billion to fund the ground breaking for Zone 1.

Bappeda head Andi Baso Mappapoleonro said the ground breaking would be conducted early next year. '€œIt is a little behind schedule, as PAL Jaya is still finalizing the detailed engineering design [DED],'€ he said.

Andi said the city administration was committed to accelerating the project by giving PAL Jaya Rp 30 billion through the government investment participation program in the city'€™s revised budget. The funds would be earmarked for drawing up DEDs for the other 13 zones.

'€œWe hope PAL Jaya will secure a working partner to proceed with the plan next year,'€ he said, adding that the city expected 12 of the 14 zones to be completed by 2020.

Andi said the 14 zones would deal with 70 to 80 percent of the city'€™s liquid waste.

He added that he was not worried about any U-turn by the central government. '€œThe Public Works Ministry has made a commitment to assist us. We are also flexible on the funding, whether to pursue a public-private partnership [PPP], joint funding between the central government and the city administration or a loan,'€ he said.

Separately, PAL Jaya president director Yudi Indardo said the company was ready to begin the construction of Zone 1, which will cost around Rp 6.7 trillion.

Zone 1 will cover 4,901 hectares of land in Central Jakarta, including the areas around Jl. Jend. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta up to Pluit in North Jakarta.

'€œZone 1 will cater for the liquid waste of 101,925 families, while the sewage pipes will make up 758 kilometers in length,'€ he said.

Head of pollution control and sanitation with the Jakarta Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD), Andono Warih, said Zone 1 would serve 30 percent of Jakarta'€™s residents.

'€œHowever, the water cannot be used for primary needs, such as drinking, but it can be used for other things like watering plants, for example,'€ he said, adding that the BPLHD issued environmental permits for programs such as the environmental management scheme (UKL) and environmental monitoring scheme (UPL).

Despite being a sprawling capital city, Jakarta does not have an adequate liquid-waste management system. Most houses in the city generally only have septic tanks to deal with liquid waste from lavatories, while other waste water is channeled into neighboring drains that lead into rivers.

Jakarta so far only has one sewage system, Zone 0 in Setiabudi, South Jakarta, but that only deals with 2 percent of the city'€™s total liquid waste.