In February last year, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan announced that his administration would gradually take over the city’s water management from the private operators that have operated in the capital for more than 20 years.

More than a year after the announcement at City Hall, Jakarta’s residents remain in the dark about the progress of the public takeover, sparking outcry from civil society groups that are demanding greater transparency.

An alliance of “Jakarta Residents Opposed to the Privatization of Water”, consisting of 15 civil society organizations and more than 20 individual stakeholders, demanded Anies fulfill his promise to grant Jakartans their right to clean and potable water.

“We urge the governor to [...] terminate and not extend cooperation with and take over Jakarta’s water management from private firms to prevent further losses to the state and the public,” the signatories wrote in a recent open letter to the city administration.

They also demanded that the policymaking process concerning the city’s tap water be “transparent, participative and non-discriminative".

The topic of privatization has reemerged over recent concerns the city administration is ready to award the private operators another extension to manage the city’s water, flying in the face of previous commitments.

Anies established a Water Management Team in August 2018 that was tasked with following up a Supreme Court ruling from 2017 in favor of a group of Jakarta residents fighting against tap water privatization in the capital.

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