The study comes at a time when access to clean drinking water remains one of Indonesia's most important public service challenges. Although PDAMs are responsible for supplying safe and affordable drinking water, they face a unique governance dilemma. On one hand, they must fulfill their social responsibility by providing essential services to all citizens. On the other, they are expected to operate efficiently, remain financially sustainable, and, in some regions, contribute to local government revenue. Balancing these competing responsibilities often affects decisions related to tariffs, infrastructure investment, and service quality.
According to the authors, conventional management models are no longer sufficient to address the increasingly complex challenges of public water services. Drinking water governance involves not only technical operations but also environmental sustainability, equitable access, public accountability, community participation, and coordination among multiple institutions.
To examine these issues, the researchers employed a qualitative approach using literature review and document analysis. Rather than conducting field surveys, they analyzed academic publications on public governance, collaborative governance, public value, and drinking water management, alongside policy documents related to PDAM governance in Indonesia. The collected information was synthesized to explore how the New Public Governance framework could improve drinking water services.
The study identifies several major governance challenges currently faced by PDAMs across Indonesia.
Among the key findings are:
- PDAMs continue to struggle with balancing public service obligations and financial sustainability.
- Drinking water coverage remains uneven, particularly in low-income communities and geographically remote regions.
- Maintaining water quality and continuous supply remains a persistent operational challenge.
- Financial pressures, including Non-Revenue Water (NRW), operational costs, and infrastructure investment, continue to affect long-term sustainability.
- Limited transparency regarding tariffs, service interruptions, and organizational performance weakens public trust.
The researchers argue that these challenges cannot be solved by PDAMs alone. Instead, effective drinking water governance requires active collaboration among local governments, regulators, private sector partners, community organizations, and citizens.
Under the New Public Governance framework, government agencies no longer function solely as service providers. Instead, they serve as facilitators that coordinate institutional networks and encourage cooperation among stakeholders. In this model, citizens are viewed not merely as customers but as active partners who contribute to improving public services through participation, feedback, and shared responsibility.
One of the study's important conclusions is that expanding drinking water services depends as much on institutional collaboration as on physical infrastructure. Building additional pipelines alone is insufficient if local governments, spatial planners, financing institutions, regulators, and communities do not work together toward common objectives.
Similarly, improving service quality requires continuous interaction between PDAMs and the public. Customer complaint systems, consultation forums, and accessible communication channels enable communities to report problems, monitor service performance, and contribute to service improvements. Such collaborative relationships strengthen both service quality and institutional legitimacy.
Transparency also emerges as a critical element of effective governance. According to the researchers, public confidence increases when customers have easy access to information regarding water quality, tariff structures, service disruptions, organizational performance, and complaint mechanisms. Without transparent communication, policy decisions—particularly tariff adjustments—may generate public resistance and reduce institutional credibility.
The study further emphasizes that financial efficiency should not be pursued at the expense of equitable access. While PDAMs must maintain healthy financial performance, affordability and social justice should remain central principles in public service delivery. This perspective distinguishes the New Public Governance approach from earlier management models that focused primarily on organizational efficiency and financial outcomes.
According to Syahrul Hasan and his colleagues from Muhammadiyah University of Jakarta, successful PDAM governance should be evaluated not only by technical performance or financial indicators but also by its ability to create public value. This includes expanding equitable access to clean water, strengthening public participation, increasing accountability, protecting environmental sustainability, and building long-term public trust.
Based on these findings, the researchers recommend several policy improvements. Local governments should reinforce PDAMs' role as providers of essential public services rather than viewing them primarily as revenue-generating enterprises. PDAMs should strengthen partnerships with communities, regulators, private organizations, and other stakeholders while improving transparency in tariffs, water quality reporting, service interruptions, and customer complaint handling. At the same time, financial sustainability strategies should continue to prioritize affordability and social equity.
The authors also encourage future empirical research involving PDAM management, local governments, customers, regulators, and community organizations to evaluate how New Public Governance principles perform in real operational settings. Such studies could support the development of governance models that improve accessibility, responsiveness, transparency, accountability, service sustainability, and customer satisfaction across Indonesia's drinking water sector.
Author Profile
Syahrul Hasan is a researcher from Muhammadiyah University of Jakarta specializing in public administration, public service governance, collaborative governance, and regional public utilities. This study was co-authored with Prof. Dr. Rahmat Salam and Prof. Dr. Taufiqurokhman, senior academics in the Doctoral Program of Public Administration at Muhammadiyah University of Jakarta whose expertise includes public policy, governance, institutional reform, and public service innovation.
Research Source
Article Title: New Public Governance-Based Public Services: A Study of Drinking Water Regional Company Governance in Indonesia
Authors: Syahrul Hasan, Rahmat Salam, Taufiqurokhman
Journal: International Journal of Applied and Scientific Research (IJASR), Volume 4, Issue 5, 2026
0 Komentar