Jakarta – Most city-run water companies across the country have failed to meet national targets for clean water access due to poor planning and management, according to the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

The BPK revealed Tuesday that of 102 city-run water companies (PDAM) audited, 83 had not met the 2010-2014 National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) target of providing 67 percent of the country's total population with access to clean water.

Eighty-three of the 102 companies examined from January 2013 to June 2014 set targets lower than the national target, which ranged from 22 to 65 percent. "Their respective targets are even lower than the RPJMN target," BPK spokesman Yudi Ramdan Budiman said Tuesday in a press conference.

Under the 2010-2014 RPJMN, public access to clean water is listed as one of 11 national priorities in the health sector.

Yudi said that in addition to falling short of the national target, most state water companies had failed to reach the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target of providing access to clean water to 68.87 percent of the nation's population.

According to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) in 2012, only 58.05 percent of the country's population of around 250 million had access to clean water – 10.82 percent lower than the MDG target.

Yudi said the city-run water companies' failure was partly due to improper planning, with 95 local administrations yet to determine effective policies or implementation strategies. "This shows that regional governments have a low commitment to ensuring the fulfillment of a very basic public need," he said.

Under Government Regulation No. 16/2005 on the development of drinking water provision systems, regional administrations are required to formulate local policies and strategies for providing a supply of clean water.

The regulation also stipulates that local governments can use region-owned enterprises (BUMD) as organizers of tap water supply systems.

Yudi added that local water companies also suffered from the poor management of funds. He said that 40 of 102 PDAMs had charged prices to customers that prevented them from covering costs. From this number, Yudi said, only three had been granted government subsidies.

"If they set their tariffs lower than [the amount needed to cover] production costs, the shortages should have been compensated by governments," he said.

Yudi said state water companies also lacked proper customer management, with 37 of them yet to develop an accurate billing system or a customer database. "This is important if there are changes in the classification of customers," he said.

Public policy observer Agus Pambagio said the lack of access to clean water was correlated with poor management of water resources. Agus said companies should have been able to provide the public with a sufficient supply of clean water, but that they were unable to properly maintain the quality and quantity of water resources.

"If water resources become polluted, this will lead to a surge in production costs. Then the companies will not be able to reach their targets, as tariffs cannot be increased," Agus told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. (alm)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/05/13/inept-management-deprives-millions-water.html