Jakarta, Indonesia
Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia and home to 10.56 million people, is one of Southeast Asia’s oldest continuously inhabited cities (dating back to the fourth century) (The World Factbook, 2021). With 13 rivers running through it, Jakarta has a tropical monsoon climate with a wet season spanning from October to May, while June through September constitute the drier months (receiving less than 100 mm of rainfall per month). At an elevation ranging from -2 to 50 m above sea level, half of Jakarta is now estimated to be sitting below sea level and is continuing to sink (Ng & Rivai, 2020; Prameshwari, 2015).
Flooding and storm surges negatively impact the city’s infrastructure and overall health. These events—combined with the lack of water harvesting infrastructure, low investment from the local government, and lack of adequate funding mechanisms—result in one of the lowest rates of water supply (around 60%) and sewerage (4%) services in urban Asia (Global Water Forum, 2020).
Overall, the water and sanitation sectors are not given high priority at the national or sub-national level, partly due to competing priorities. Organizations such as Bank Negara Indonesia (a state-owned bank) provide small loans to community-based organizations engaged in the water supply on Java (Indonesia Investments, 2016). Though the government’s prioritization of water and sanitation is not very high, these sectors have slowly moved up on the government’s agenda. However, to meet its goals, the national government will need to significantly raise its financial contributions to the sector (World Bank, 2015).
The Jakarta-owned tap water company, PAM Jaya, is expanding tap water coverage from 65% to 100% while also reducing non-revenue water to increase water supply (Loasana, 2020). PAM Jaya’s other plans include constructing more water treatment plants to increase its raw-water supply from inside the city and replacing old pipes and water meters (Loasana, 2020). As there are plans to move the capital city to another island by 2024, a considerable amount of future funding will be devoted to this endeavor (Massola & Rompies, 2019).
