The ruling, which was announced on the court’s official website mahkamahagung.go.id, was passed on Oct. 2.

KWSC lawyer and Sentul City resident Gita Paulina said on Tuesday that she looked forward to pushing all parties, particularly the Bogor regency administration, to obey the court’s ruling.

“We have been notified [about the ruling], but we have yet to receive an official copy,” she told The Jakarta Post.

The dispute between the KWSC and PT Sentul City concerns the tap water system in the housing complex, which is managed by the developer’s subsidiary, PT Sukaputra Graha Cemerlang (SGC).

The dispute began when residents realized the water bills they were paying were higher than what the regency-owned water company PDAM Tirta Kahuripan charged. While PDAM charged Rp 4,300 (30 US cents) per cubic meter, SGC charged the residents Rp 7,200 per cubic meter.

The residents accused PT Sentul City of illegally selling tap water and said the company threatened to cut off their water supply if they refused to pay the bills.

After series of legal proceedings and a show of support from the Jakarta Ombudsman, the court ruled in favor of the KWSC.

The ruling required the Bogor administration to withdraw the company’s permit to manage its water treatment facility. It also revoked the company’s right to collect water-bill payments from the residents. The water infrastructure will be handed over to PDAM.

The case review was the last legal step the developer could pursue, but Sentul City spokesperson Alfian Mujani said the ruling did not terminate the company’s contract with PDAM to distribute water to the housing complex.

“Sentul City is still allowed to fulfill the residents’ need for tap water based on the partnership between PDAM and Sentul City,” he told the Post.

“We are now receiving support from residents who still want the tap water system to be managed by Sentul City. They have filed a lawsuit challenging the Supreme Court’s decision in Cibinong District Court,” Alfian said.

He was referring to a lawsuit submitted by a third party that feels disadvantaged by the court’s ruling.

Alfian criticized the country’s lack of township-management regulation.

The developer stipulated in the conditional sales and purchase agreement signed by the homeowners that the public services and facilities would all be managed by the developer itself.

According to Alfian, this does not have to be the case. If residents are inconvenienced and take the complaint to the court, as in the current case, the agreement can be altered.

“On behalf of other developers, I call on the government to create a regulation that gives legal certainty to developers in building and managing residential areas with a township concept,” he said.

“One day, they [the government] call on us to build more housing complexes with township concepts. The next, they let the lack of regulation get us into trouble with the residents,” he added.

There are a number of residential areas in Greater Jakarta managed with a township concept, including BSD in South Tangerang, Alam Sutera and Lippo Karawaci in Tangerang, Deltamas and Jababeka in Bekasi, and Rancamaya and Kota Wisata in Bogor.

Under the township agreement, the developer has the authority to manage the residential compound and its facilities even after all the units are sold. These services include tap water, security, public facility maintenance and waste management.

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