JAKARTA, Indonesia, Feb. 8, 2010 -- Dutch consultancy and engineering firm DHV and its Indonesian subsidiary PT MLD have signed a contract to undertake a giant sanitation project in Indonesia. The 'Urban Sanitation Development Project' will develop sanitation strategies and manage studies, designs and construction supervision services for wastewater, urban drainage, and solid waste in 80 cities. The contract, worth EUR 10 million, runs until year-end 2014 and is being financed by the Dutch Ministry for Development Cooperation through the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta.
Tackling health risksThere is an urgent need to tackle sanitation issues in Indonesia. Jan Oomen, DHV's project leader, said: "Indonesia has a population of around 230 million. Only one percent of the people have access to sewerage and forty percent do not have environmentally safe private or public toilets at their disposal. This poses serious health risks. The Indonesian government underwrites the Millennium Development Goals and wishes to improve the situation significantly."
The project is part of the Indonesian government's "Accelerated Sanitation Development Program" (known by its Indonesian acronym PPSP). The program aims at improving wastewater, urban drainage and solid waste infrastructure and services in 330 cities over the coming five years. Investments under PPSP are currently estimated at USD 5 billion by the Indonesian government. Oomen: "We expect that this amount will need to be doubled if local governments opt for more structural long-term solutions for their still fast growing cities."
Advising local authoritiesThe Indonesian National Planning Board is the formal client of the project. The bulk of the contract concerns guidance and assistance to the cities that shall develop their strategies and implement their plans themselves. Over the past four years DHV has worked on similar assignments for 12 cities and three provinces. Oomen: "We can put our fieldwork experience and international knowledge of wastewater, urban drainage and solid waste management to good use in this new contract. Our work has already resulted in the establishment of our approach as model for the national program. It is the Indonesian Government's intention that its backlog in urban sanitation services, as compared to the Millennium Development Goals, will be largely resolved after those five years. The preceding project "Indonesia Sanitation Sector Development Programme," and under management of the World Bank, was also mainly funded by the Netherlands Government.
About DHV
DHV is a leading international consultancy and engineering firm, providing services and innovative solutions in Transportation, Water, Building & Industry, Urban and Regional Development, and Environment & Sustainability. Our range of services covers the entire project cycle, including management consultancy, advice, design and engineering, project management, contract management and asset management. DHV, headquartered in the Netherlands, is part of the DHV Group which maintains a network of 70 offices worldwide. Our projects are able to call upon the extensive expertise network of the entire DHV Group, benefiting from an integrated approach and a shared commitment to the sustainable development of our living environment. The DHV Group has a staff of about 5,500 and its turnover in 2008 was € 468 million. For further information please visit www.dhv.com.
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