From May 18 – 19, 2017, USAID Indonesia Environment Office Director, Mr. Matthew Burton visited Kota Makassar to witness the signing of four Partnership Agreements between the provincial government of South Sulawesi, three districts in South Sulawesi province and USAID IUWASH PLUS, and to visit hotspot sites in Kelurahan Lette, Mariso Sub-district to see the community’s condition in that area, with regard to the water and sanitation condition there.
The signing of four Partnership Agreements of the South Sulawesi province, Barru, Bantaeng and Bulukumba districts was held in Hotel The Rinra Makassar on May 18, 2017. Each Partnership Agreement was signed by the USAID IUWASH PLUS Chief of Party, Louis O’Brien and the respective local government representatives. For South Sulawesi province, the agreement was signed by the Head of South Sulawesi Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda), Drs. H. Jufri Rahman, M.Si. For the three districts, the document was signed respectively by the Vice-regent of Bantaeng, Drs. H. Muhammad Yasin, MT; Vice-regent of Bulukumba district, Tomy Satria Yulianto, S.IP; and the Regional Secretary of Barru district, Ir. H. Nasruddin AM, M.Si.
During the signing ceremony, USAID Indonesia Environment Office Director, Mr. Burton conveyed his remarks about the cooperation between the USAID IUWASH PLUS program and the Government of Indonesia, particularly South Sulawesi province and the three districts signing the agreement to work together in improving access to water supply, sanitation services and improved hygiene behavior for urban poor and vulnerable community. “It is hoped that in the future the community will be able to get access to clean water and improved sanitation,” Mr. Burton ended his remarks.
In the following remarks, the Head of South Sulawesi Bappeda, Mr. Rahman stated that this cooperation is a proof that the Government of South Sulawesi Province is serious in putting efforts in improving the provision of access to clean water and sanitation for the community.
On May 19, 2017, Mr. Burton visited hotspot sites in RW 1 and RW 5 neighborhoods of Kelurahan Lette, Mariso sub-district in Kota Makassar to see the community and the condition of clean water and sanitation in that area. During this visit, Lurah Lette, Mr. Muhammad Jauzi explained that the community here gets clean water by buying it in jerry cans from their neighbors who have pipe connection to PDAM. The price is Rp 3000 per cart, each cart containing six jerry cans of 10 liter each. Among the neighborhoods in Kelurahan Lette, RW 1 and 5 are densely populated settlement areas and mostly consist of low-income community (MBR). However, most of the households in those areas are already connected to communal wastewater treatment plant (IPAL Komunal).
