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Privatized water still muddying Jakarta: Civil groups
Civil groups have raised their suspicion that PAM Jaya's latest "bundling" deal with Moya Indonesia is simply another way to keep private companies' hands in the city's water system.
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Water vendors fill plastic jerricans on August 6, 2022 with tap water managed by the city utility company, in a neighborhood just outside of the Muara Angke ferry port in North Jakarta. (JP/A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil)
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group of civil society organizations has expressed concern that privatized water was still lingering in Jakarta, instead of fully returning the utility’s management to city-owned PAM Jaya, which denies the allegation.
The utility company insists that it now has full control of the capital’s drinking water system.
For 25 years, PAM Jaya cooperated with two private water companies to provide piped water in Jakarta: Aetra in the city’s eastern area and Palyja in western area.
On Jan. 31, 2023, the utility company’s cooperation agreements with Aetra and Palyja ended and the private companies’ assets were handed over to PAM Jaya, which also rehired all of their employees.
By last year, the public tap water system in the city had reached 65 percent coverage, and PAM Jaya aims to provide 100 percent coverage by 2030.
In October 2022, however, months before the company’s agreements with Aetra and Palyja ended, the city utility company signed a bundled contract with PT Moya Indonesia, which was given management of six of the city’s 13 water treatment plants, with PAM Jaya to purchase and distribute the water they produced to its customers.
The Coalition of Jakarta Residents Opposing Water Privatization (KMMSAJ) has expressed concern that even though the cooperation agreements with Palyja and Aetra had ended, PAM Jaya’s new contract with PT Moya Indonesia was simply a “new chapter” in Jakarta’s water privatization saga. As such, the group demanded that the city utility company fully take over the drinking water system.
