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No Tax on Jakarta's Drinking Water: Official
Dofa Fasila | February 18, 2012

Local water suppliers have been hesitant to introduce potable water because of uncertainty over tax. JG Photo/Safir Makki Local water suppliers have been hesitant to introduce potable water because of uncertainty over tax. JG Photo/Safir Makki
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jetset24
5:02pm Feb 18, 2012

facepalm...Most expats here are still alive eating salade nicoise as far as I know...LOL. But I do know what you mean, one can't never be too sure. Most have acquired a defensive mechanism once you have lived here for a while.

Actually on one occasion, I remembered being ill from drinking a daily dose of tap water in France after arriving from the US. Well, no need to go into major sick details.


facepalm
1:52pm Feb 18, 2012

in restaurants I insist they use bottled water to wash my salad and I'll stand and watch them do it such is the disgusting state of tapwater in Jakarta. Just not prepared to take any risks.

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The government has guaranteed the country’s potable water will be free from value-added taxes that could be passed on to users, and has urged city water utility PDAM Jaya and its two operators, Palyja and Aetra, to proceed with their production of drinking water for the Jakarta area.

The Supporting Agency for Water Supply System Development (BPP SPAM), an office under the Ministry for Public Works established to monitor the country’s water supply, said it has asked the finance minister to exclude potable water from having a tax added to its cost.

Indonesia plans to establish a system of potable water and Jakarta is first in line for its implementation.

“We have asked the finance minister to change the decree and treat potable water differently from bottled water. Potable water is a basic need. If it is taxed, then the program can’t be realized,” BPP SPAM chairman Rachmat Karnadi said at a seminar in Jakarta on Friday.

He said the finance minister would not challenge his office’s request.

“Don’t worry about the decree, just continue the project,” Rachmat told the water suppliers. “I guarantee you there will be no taxes on potable water.”

A 2009 decree from the director general of taxes stipulates that potable water is subject to the same tax that bottled water suppliers pay.

PDAM Jaya director Sri Widayanto Kaderi welcomed Rachmat’s statement, saying that the tax on potable water had prevented operators from beginning to establish the planned potable water system in the Jakarta area.

He said the system would need an investment of up to Rp 3 trillion ($333 million), and the additional costs from an additional tax could be passed down to customers.

“We and the operators will not begin establishing the potable water system until after the decree is revised,” he said.

Bekasi water provider Tirta Bhagasasi said in September that the water source used to produce tap water for Bekasi and Jakarta was heavily contaminated with human waste, as indicated by a high E. coli level.

The Jakarta administration countered that it could “guarantee” the capital’s tap water was clean because two private operators treat it before it leaves their plants.