Water and wastewater treatment is an important issue in Indonesia. Indonesia’s water resources accounts for 6% of the world’s and 21% of Asia-Pacific’s. And yet 68% of rivers in Indonesia are heavily polluted. Of those, 70% are polluted by domestic waste, according to the Indonesian National Planning Agency. Rivers contaminated by domestic waste raise the cost of clean water since it will require more processing effort. The World Bank estimates that the degree of the pollution has raised the cost of water treatment alone by up to 25%, incurring the country a loss of Rp 56 trillion or $4.2 billion each year.
That is why, from March 25 – 28, EKONID hosted a German Business Mission to Indonesia for the water and wastewater sector. The event was held in cooperation with the German Water Partnership (GWP) and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi). The delegation was led by Mr. Falk Woelm and Ms. Anna Lechermann as representatives from the GWP and BMWI, respectively.
Held in the cities of Jakarta and Surabaya in East Java, the four-day event saw nearly 200 participants comprising of 14 German companies that took part in the mission, with the remaining over-180 representatives of Indonesian companies and multinationals operating in the country who were looking to gain further insights on the various water and wastewater technology solutions offered by Germany.
Additionally, out of the 14 participating German companies, four focuses on the water and wastewater treatment technologies in rural areas and in post-disaster handling. This is relevant in regards to Indonesia’s geographical position within the earth’s Ring of Fire – a major area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where many earthquakes and volcanic eruption occur – in which a number of Indonesian areas and cities being vulnerable to disasters, as shown by the earthquake and the resulting tsunami that hit the cities of Palu and Donggala in Central Sulawesi last year.
The Business Mission was held back-to-back for two days each in the cities of Jakarta and Surabaya. The Jakarta event was attended by, among others, Mr. Hendrik Barkeling, Deputy Head of Mission at the Germany Embassy to Indonesia; Mr. Jan Rönnfeld, Managing Director of EKONID; Mr. Agung Hendarsa, Board of Expert at the Indonesian Water Association, and Mr. Fajar Antono, Deputy Director of Special Water Supply System at the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing. The event in Surabaya was attended by Mr. Mike Neuber, Director of Wisma Jerman, and Mr. Mujiaman Soekirno, CEO of the city-run water supply company, PDAM Surabaya.
In each of the Jakarta and Surabaya event, a forum was first held to introduce the various technological solutions offered by the participating German companies, followed by individual meetings between the German companies and their Indonesian counterparts as facilitated by EKONID.
Overall, the responses from the participants of the event were positive. Mr. Jurgen Skowaisa, Product Manager from Vega Grishaber KG, said he was impressed by the number of participants garnered by the event. “I didn’t expect so many people, so it’s quite interesting. I hope that our local subsidiary company can gain some benefit out of this because four years ago our focus was a bit different focus. It was more to the chemical, petrochemical and mining industry. Now we also want to go to water industry and I hope we get some good contacts and the possibility of good customers,” he said.
Mr. Emilio De Paz, Project Manager Corporate Business Water at Waste Water KSB SE & Co. KGaA expressed his appreciation at how well the event was organized. “Everything is perfect. I hope to meet many many new customers within the next coming days, and also to know some companies here,” he said.
German companies that attended this Business Forum were: Acuago GmbH, Aucotec, Herrenknecht AG, Micro Water Plant UG, VEGA Grieshaber KG, Rieckermann GmbH, Silvertex Aqua GmbH, The WaterBackpack Company GmbH, H.P Gauff Ingenieure, Hydac Process Technology GmbH, Seba Dynatronic Mess- und Ortungstechnik GmbH, and KSB SE & Co. KGaA.