T

he Finance Ministry has filed a case review on the Supreme Court verdict that ordered an end to water privatization in Jakarta.

In the case review, filed on March 22 to the Central Jakarta District Court, the government argued that the panel of judges committed an error in issuing its verdict in the citizen suit that sought to break the water contract between city-owned water company PAM Jaya and private operators PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) and PT Aetra Air Jakarta (Aetra).

The ministry said the lawsuit, filed by a group of 12 people calling themselves the Coalition of Jakarta Residents Opposing Water Privatization (KMMSAJ), was unfit to be submitted as a citizen suit as it failed to mention Palyja and Aetra among the defendants.

The argument was presented before the Jakarta High Court, with the government winning the case, before the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the KMMSAJ.

“We want to maximize our legal efforts,” said the ministry’s head of communications and information division, Nufransa Wira Sakti, as quoted by Koran Tempo daily.

The water company and the two operators signed a 25-year contract in 1997, in which PAM Jaya licensed the provision of tap water services in the city to the two private firms.

As services barely improved over the years, the KMMSAJ filed a lawsuit in 2013 to the Central Jakarta Court, with the aim of returning water services to the Jakarta administration through PAM Jaya. It won the case in the first stage, but the government later appealed to the high court.

In a case review, petitioners are usually required to present new evidence to challenge a verdict.

Despite the central government’s legal efforts, the Jakarta administration said it had accepted the Supreme Court’s verdict and is now working on municipalizing tap water services.

“We have no issue [with the verdict]. We are committed to fulfilling the Supreme Court’s decision,” said Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno.

Access to clean water is a major problem in the capital as only 60 percent of the population have access to clean water.

Poor performance and the reluctance to invest in infrastructure has hindered tap water services over the years.

Although Sandiaga and Governor Anies Baswedan said they would take over tap water services, no clear plans on the future of the city’s tap water have been presented.

Anies had rejected a new contract proposed by PAM Jaya as it involved the two existing operators.

In 1997, PAM Jaya licensed the rights to produce and distribute clean water to the two private water operators, with Palyja operating in the western part of the city and Aetra — then-Thames Pam Jaya (TPJ) — operating in the eastern part. TPJ later became Aetra after a change in ownership.

Its operations have been facilitated by PAM Jaya’s seven water plants.

At the beginning of the partnership, PAM Jaya had 201,000 customers in the western part of Jakarta and 268,000 in the eastern part. By 2016, the numbers grew respectively to 404,000 and 426,000.