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City to get more water from Jatiluhur dam
Action for clean water: Singer and environmentalist Ully Sigar Rusadi (center) sings during the commemoration of 2015 World Water Day during Car Free Day at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Sunday
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span class="inline inline-center">Action for clean water: Singer and environmentalist Ully Sigar Rusadi (center) sings during the commemoration of 2015 World Water Day during Car Free Day at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Sunday. The event was held to raise public awareness on the importance of clean water. JP/P.J. Leo
A consortium of state-owned and city-owned companies has intensified a water pipeline project connecting the Jatiluhur Dam in West Java to Kalimalang in East Jakarta, to provide an additional supply of clean water to Jakarta by 2017.
Director of potable water development at the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry, Mochammad Natsir, said on the sidelines of an event held to commemorate World Water Day on Sunday that the consortium, which comprises three companies, would carry out full financial assessment before borrowing funds from private banks for the project.
The consortium consists of PT Jaya Konstruksi Manggala Pratama, a subsidiary of Jakarta-owned PT Pembangunan Jaya, state-owned company Perum Jasa Tirta (PJT) II and PT Tirta Gemah Ripah (TGM), which is owned by West Java province.
'The project will cost around Rp 1.7 trillion [US$130.9 million]. Around 30 percent of the project will be funded by investor equity while the rest will derive from bank loans,' he said.
The pipeline will carry 5,000 liters of clean water per second, 4,000 liters per second of which will be channeled to Jakarta, 300 liters to Bekasi, while the remaining 700 liters will be shared by Bekasi and Karawang regencies.
'Hopefully the facility can fully operate in early 2017,' Natsir said.
He said the central government would hand over the project to state-owned and city-owned companies.
'The water rates will be determined by the agreement between the consortium and [city-owned water operator] PAM Jaya,' he said.
Many Jakartans lack access to clean water during the peak of the rainy season, when they are hit by floods, and the dry season, when there are water shortages in Jatiluhur Dam and Tangerang. The two private operators responsible for supplying tap water in the capital city ' PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya and PT Aetra Air Jakarta ' can only fulfill around 60 percent of water needs. Both operators have repeatedly blamed a lack of water resources as the primary obstacle for their service expansions.
According to PAM, water entered Jakarta at a rate of 18,025 liters per second, while the capital city needed at least 26,000 liters per second. The demand is predicted to increase to 30,100 liters per second by 2030.
PAM technical director HM Limbong said the Ciliwung River alone used to be able to provide 6,500 liters per second. However, today the productivity of all water resources inside the capital city had dropped to 540 liters per second on account of polluted rivers.
Limbong said his company would refurbish smaller water treatment plants in Pejaten and Condet in South Jakarta. He said both private operators would also build small water treatment plants in various areas, including Cilandak in South Jakarta and Jembatan Besi in West Jakarta.
'The smaller water treatment plants will add another 2,000 liters per second in 2016,' he said.
Meanwhile, the coordinator of the People's Coalition for the Right to Water (KRuHA), Muhammad Reza, sees the Jatiluhur pipeline project as an egocentric solution to the city's so-called water crisis.
'Jakarta's water supply mainly comes from Jatiluhur and we are about to take another 5,000 liters per second,' he said, adding that the government had not tried to fix the problems in the capital.
Reza claimed that many farmers in Muara Gembong district, in Bekasi, West Java, had been struggling to water their fields.
'Conditions will worsen if we keep taking water from it [Jatiluhur Dam],' he said.
Reza said the city administration needed to fix the city's aging water pipes. 'I also predict that construction costs will be passed on to the end-users,' he said.
