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View all search resultsPressure piles on for accessible clean water in Jakarta
Activists and religious organizations have urged the Jakarta administration and City Council to cancel the drafting of a bylaw that would transform city-owned water company PT PAM Jaya into a limited liability firm.
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Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung (left) inspects the Pesanggrahan Water Treatment Plant (IPA) in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, with Banten Governor Andra Soni (second right), Deputy Public Works Ministry Diana Kusumastuti (right) and Jakarta-owned water company PT PAM Jaya president director Arief Nasrudin on Sept. 9, 2025. (Antara/Sulthony Hasanuddin)
Calls are mounting for the Jakarta administration and city-owned utility firm PT PAM Jaya to avoid policies that would lead to the commercialization and unfair distribution of clean water, following an ongoing plan to transform the water provider into a limited liability company.
Civic groups have called on the government and the Jakarta City Council to cancel the plan to draft a bylaw that would allow private ownership of up to 49 percent in the water company.
The plan is deemed a blatant act of clean water privatization that must be halted, according to public lawyer Alghiffari Aqsa from AMAR Law Firm. He slammed the bylaw draft for lacking accountability and containing no guarantee for improved water access for residents, especially poor and marginalized households.
“In fact, there needs to be a bylaw to ensure people’s rights [to water] and pipeline networks as well as water quality for poor communities,” Alghiffari said on Sept. 25 during an online discussion hosted by think tank the Rujak Center for Urban Studies and civil group the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC).
He warned that privatization of the water company may violate the 2017 Government Regulation (PP) on city-owned companies (BUMD), which only allows privatization for firms operating in competitive sectors.
PAM Jaya, according to Alghiffari, “does not meet this requirement”. Should the bylaw be passed, civic groups may challenge it with the Supreme Court immediately, he added.
