Douglas L. Vermillion

Turnover and irrigation service fees: Indonesia's new policies to achieve economically sustainable irrigation.

This paper reviews the implications of the new economic policies of turning over public irrigation systems to local water users and irrigation service fees that are in the process of being implemented by the Indonesian Government. These policies are designed to ensure that irrigation is economically sustainable over the next decades. The turnover program has already made considerable progress and, once government policies are clarified, has the potential to major impact on irrigation in the more mountainous provinces. It is expected by the year 2002 that 108 billion Rupiah will be raised from service fees. However, with respect to the collection of such fees, there is still bureaucratic uncertainty and local resistance that must be overcome before the policy can be successfully implemented throughout the country.