W

ater operator PT Aetra Air Jakarta (Aetra) has established its own laboratory to test water meter calibration after 16 years of operating in the city.

Aetra president director Mohamad Selim said during the inauguration of the building in Kalimalang on Friday that the laboratory, called Workshop Meter, would enable the company to test the accuracy of water meters fast and regularly.

'€œWe can improve our services, especially in responding to complaints about broken water meters, at our own facility, which cost Rp 4.05 billion [US$409,000],'€ he said.

He added that the company previously tested water meters at other laboratories or factories.

Selim said the workshop could also help reduce water loss, which reached 40 percent of its supply to customers. '€œAs much as 25 percent of water loss is caused by broken water meters,'€ he said, adding that it was mainly due to leakages.

Aetra is one of two private companies that cooperate with city-owned water operator PAM Jaya and manages the distribution of clean water in the east part of Jakarta, covering half of Central Jakarta, most of North Jakarta and all of East Jakarta.

It had 394.759 customers as of May, with a capacity of 150 million cubic meters per year.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama, who attended the inauguration, said that he appreciated the efforts of Aetra to improve its services, adding that addressing the problem of broken meters would help stem financial losses suffered by not only the company but also its customers.

'€œI have had personal experience with a broken water meter in my house. I had to pay Rp 1.5 million a month even though my house was unoccupied,'€ he said.

The deputy governor said improving infrastructure, including building the laboratory, would make it faster and easier for the company to increase its water capacity.

'€œIt is faster to fix water meters to stop 25 percent of the water loss than wait for an additional 10 percent in supply from Jatiluhur, West Java,'€ he said.

The government plans to build a pipeline from Jatiluhur to Jakarta in order to boost the water stock of the capital city.

Basuki said he had called on both water operators, Aetra and PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja), to pay more attention to low-income residents as the water business was not merely commercial in nature.

'€œWe want all of our partners to profit from the cooperation, but if they only think of themselves and not the public, we will definitely take over their businesses,'€ he said.

Basuki said the city administration planned to submit a proposal on water procurement for low-income residents to the City Council.

'€œWe plan to set up a system for those in the low-income bracket in which they would pay around Rp 10,000 per cubic meter of water,'€ he said, adding that it would be beneficial for them as they usually paid Rp 25,000 to Rp 50,000 per cubic meter from itinerant water sellers.

Basuki said the administration also would get strict on illegal network connections. '€œWe will not connect illegal premises and will dismantle existing connections in those sorts of places,'€ he said.