F

or Halimah, a resident of Rawa Badak in Koja district, North Jakarta, the Supreme Court’s ruling to roll back water privatization is a sweet gift for her birthday this Sunday.

After a three-year legal battle, the court has ruled in favor of a citizen’s lawsuit petitioned by the Coalition of Jakarta Residents Opposing Water Privatization (KMMSAJ), which demanded a repeal of the contract between city-owned water company PAM Jaya and its two private operators, PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) and PT Aetra Air Jakarta (Aetra).

Water management in the city is now based on Jakarta Bylaw No. 13/1992, which orders PAM Jaya to be the sole party responsible for managing the capital’s tap water supply.

Halimah, along with other residents under the coalition, has vehemently opposed the commercialization of water management, which has forced her to struggle for clean water every day.

The former pre-school teacher claimed she rarely had access to clean water despite registering with Aetra. Having lived in Rawa Badak since 1990, she noticed that clean water became scarce in the early 2000s.

“I became a PAM customer in 1992. The [water] supply was good [...] The trouble began in the early 2000s when supply started to decrease,” she told the Post.

She added that residents woke up early each morning to get water that is distributed between 2 a.m. and 4 a.m. And from that, she can only collect two buckets of water, which was not enough to fulfill her family’s daily needs.

“Until now, the water quality is not very good. I have to filter the water before using it to separate the dirt,” Halimah said.

PAM Jaya granted Palyja and Aetra the rights to produce and distribute clean water in Jakarta after signing an agreement with them in 1997.

Under the deal, Palyja controlled the supply of tap water in the western part of the capital, while Aetra — then named Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ) — controlled the east. The partnership is expected to end in 2023.

Under the two private companies, Jakarta residents have experienced disruptions in their water supply, as well as poor water quality. Their tariffs, meanwhile, were considered to be far too high for underprivileged communities.

Halimah said she once had to buy extra water every day, which added to her financial burden.

“At that time, I spent Rp 25,000 [US$1.85] a day to buy water. That was far too expensive,” she said, adding that she now paid a monthly fee of Rp 500,000 for tap water that covers her house and the two extended rooms she rents out.

During a press conference held at the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation on Thursday, the coalition said the verdict still needed to be supervised to ensure that every party related to the case would adhere to the ruling.

Puspa Dewi, head of the national executive board of women’s rights NGO Solidaritas Perempuan (Women’s Solidarity), said water management in Jakarta should prioritize quality, quantity, affordability and availability.

Based on an observation conducted by Solidaritas Perempuan from September 2015 to January 2016, 90 percent of the water in areas such as Koja, Penjaringan and Cilincing in North Jakarta, Kebon Jeruk in West Jakarta and Tebet in South Jakarta was of poor quality, meaning it was “smelly” and tainted.

Still, over the course of their 20-year operation, Palyja and Aetra recorded consistent progress in the city’s water network.

At the beginning of its partnership with the two companies, PAM Jaya was connected to 201,000 homes in the western part of Jakarta, and 268,000 in the eastern part. By last year, the figures had grown respectively to 404,000 and 426,000.

Despite the increase, Palyja and Aetra cover only 60 percent of the population in the respective areas, a rise from 32 percent in the west and 47 percent in the east at the start of operations. (rdi)