TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta administration has decided that city water supply company, PT PAM Jaya, will start to supply clean water to its residents after entrusting private companies with the task for two decades.

“The plan to restore water management concessions in Jakarta continues to run smoothly. PT. Aetra Air Jakarta signed a Head of agreement (HoA) with PAM Jaya on Friday, April 12, 2019, in Jakarta,” PT PAM Jaya recently said in a statement.

The company's Managing Director Priyatno Bambang Hernowo outlined four points of the initial agreement.

The points include PAM Jaya and Aetra agreeing to return water management concessions in Jakarta to PAM Jaya, and arranging a transition in the management of the Drinking Water Supply System in the capital city after ending the privatization of water.

Since 1998, the management of drinking water in Jakarta was managed by two private companies, namely Aetra for the eastern region of Jakarta, and PT PAM Lyonnaise Jaya (Palyja) for the western region of Jakarta, while PAM Jaya acted as a supervisor.

A study conducted by an evaluation team set up by Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan concluded that it is unlikely for private partners to reach targets set at the beginning of the agreement under the current cooperation scheme.

Hence, the governor has asked PAM Jaya to take over piped water management. This is part of a larger global trend toward re-municipalization, under which local authorities can retake control of previously privatized water and sanitation services.

The plan is part of the city’s efforts to achieve at least 82 percent tap water coverage by 2023, which is also in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), targeting 100 percent coverage by 2030.

During the 1998-2018 period, the coverage of clean water supply service only increased by 14.9 percent. In 1998, the coverage was 44.5 percent, and in 2017, it went up to 59.4 percent, far from the target of 82 percent by 2023.

The two-decade privatization of Jakarta’s clean water supply has failed to meet the target of 100 percent coverage of tap water supply.

Governor Anies Baswedan was pleased that the private operators responded positively. Water services should be perceived as a basic need, not as a mere business, he remarked.

ANTARA

Read: Jakarta Plans to Reorganize Water Resource Management