PDAM Tirta Pakuan Kota Bogor city has set a service coverage target of 97% of the total 1.1 million of the city population in 2019. This target is 6% higher than was set in 2018.
As of 2018, PDAM Tirta Pakuan’s service coverage reached 91.4% or equal to 1,007,354 people. To achieve this 2019 target, PDAM Tirta Pakuan has undertaken considerable effort, such as expanding distribution pipes in the areas where piped water service is not yet available.
The management of PDAM Tirta Pakuan noticed that some households that need PDAM service actually belong to low-income communities. These people lack affordability to pay for PDAM regular connection and so need support to afford the service. One such support is water micro-finance scheme for the low-income community members.
Considering this situation, PDAM Tirta Pakuan, supported by USAID IUWASH PLUS, discussed with BPRS Insan Cita—a local micro-finance institution—to develop a micro-finance scheme for the WASH sector from 2017 to 2018. After lengthy discussions, PDAM Tirta Pakuan and BPRS Insan Cita signed a cooperation agreement on a water micro credit scheme named Thoharoh—an Arabic word for cleaning, in September 2018.
This micro-finance scheme gives effective interest rate of 1.5% per month with two repayment periods: six month or one-year installments. The scheme also offers 50% discount for PDAM new connection fee.
Considering that a lot of community members are not aware of the benefits of PDAM water for their health, BPRS Insan Cita engages the Bogor City Health Office for the Thoharoh marketing and promotion.
As of January 2019, 118 households had used Thoharoh product from BPRS Insan Cita to finance the PDAM new connection, including Kosim’s family.
“This Thoharoh credit is very helpful for me to access PDAM water at home. Otherwise, I will have to keep sharing a shallow water well with four other households and will never enjoy PDAM water,” said Kosim.
“My income from being a casual labor does not allow me to build the connection all at once, but with Thoharoh, I only pay Rp75,000 per month for one year. This is very affordable for me,” he added.
Seeing the community’s enthusiasm over the Thoharoh program, BPRS Insan Cita has set targets to collect 50 new members.
BPRS Insan Cita will also develop a specific Thoharoh division to intensify the Thoharoh program marketing so that more low-income community members are able to access PDAM water.
-Blandina Mandiangan (contributor)-
Available in 
