Success Story

New Water Connections Offer Health and Economic Benefits to Low-Income Citizens INDONESIA FACES MANY CHALLENGES as it I hope that our achievement in
strives to meet 2015 Millenium Development Goals for providing citizens with access to piped water. Local governments have sometimes been reluctant to invest in their water companies (PDAMs), limiting the ability of PDAMs to finance the infrastructure needed to expand services. In partnership with the Australian Government, in 2010 the Government of Indonesia launched the Water Hibah as a means to overcome this problem. The Water Hibah is a A$ 20 million initiative that offers grants to local governments based on verified new water connections in lowincome communities. The Indonesia Infrastructure Initiative (IndII) is supporting the Water Hibah by helping local governments understand and carry out their role as investors in their PDAMs, while IndII is offering complementary technical assistance to the PDAMs themselves. The kabupaten of Karawang in West Java was one of the first local governments to commit to the Water Hibah, signing an agreement in June 2010 to bring new connections to 3,000 local households. New Connections, New Ideas This goal was met, and a ceremony was held in October to commemorate the achievement. The connections have been installed (distributed among 16 villages from the five sub-districts of Cilamaya Wetan, Banyusari, Jatisari, Tirata Jaya and Jaya Kerta), and the activities in Karawang offer a valuable model for implementing the Water Hibah in other communities. The PDAM took the initiative to offer connections at no cost to villagers, freeing them from the burden of paying an installation fee. Village heads became actively involved in registering community members to obtain the new connections. IndII launched a public information campaign that helped residents to better understand the
Activity Update #XXX XXX 2009

implementing the Water Hibah program in Karawang can inspire other local governments to improve services to fulfill people basic needs. Drs. H. Dadang Muchtar Karawang Bupati 20052010

A Karawang resident enjoys her new piped water connection.

Indonesia Infrastructure Initiative is an Australian Government funded project designed to promote economic growth in Indonesia by enhancing the relevance, quality and quantum of infrastructure investment

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benefits and obligations of gaining access to piped water. Not only do the 3,000 low-income households from Karawang now have 24-hour access to piped water, with the attendant health and economic benefits: in addition, they have played a role in demonstrating how the Water Hibah can help citizens throughout Indonesia.

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