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Jakarta regains water
The Supreme Court has sealed the deal for Jakarta
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Checking: A worker controls the quality of raw water at a treatment facility owned by private tap water company PT Palyja in Central Jakarta. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
The Supreme Court has sealed the deal for Jakarta.
A ruling has ordered the end to water privatization in the capital after years of public condemnation for depriving access for the city’s poor.
City-owned water company PAM Jaya has begun the transition to take over operations from its two private partners — PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) and PT Aetra Air Jakarta (Aetra) — as their 25-year partnership contract is slated to end in 2023.
With the court verdict, the water company is not permitted to seek new private partners to handle tap water operations in the city and it will have to produce and distribute clean water on its own. PAM Jaya president director Erlan Hidayat said on Wednesday that the company and the city administration were still assessing the impact of the ruling, but he was optimistic that it would bring residents a better service.
“It is very likely that it is the start of the [ideal] tap water service that we’ve all wanted.”
A panel of justices presided by Nurul Elmiah overturned the privatization on the grounds that it violated Jakarta Bylaw No. 13/1992 on city-owned water operators, which mandates that all tap water services must be provided by PAM Jaya.
The justices also found that the water company and the two private operators made the service inaccessible to poor people because of its high rates.
