Noman Mosharef :
Dhaka WASA (Water Supply and Sewerage Authority) has decided to hike water prices by five percent for both residential and commercial use from July 1. But the city dwellers have said that water tariff has been increased though the quality plummeted.
Even though dirty, contaminated, and stinking water were supplied with insects and other germs, WASA did not care for it. Moreover, people have lost their income during pandemic. In this situation, water tariff hiking is like a ‘flogging a dead horse’ to the city residents.
Many residents have shown their dissatisfaction at the WASA’s water tariff hiking when they were asked to comment.
Shahnaz Ruma, a resident from capital’s Monipur area said, once we got fresh water. But in the last six months, WASA supplied dirty water with microbiome. After that we are using purifying system for making it useable.
The said house wife said, there was no problem with water tariff hiking, if WASA supplied fresh water.
“It is very disappointing that amid pandemic situation WASA’s decisions to increase water tariff will make extra burden for the middle income group of people.”
Yusuf Arefin, a house owner from Pallabi area said, WASA’s supplied water is very dirty. It doesn’t become fully pure even after boiling. Water filtering machine becomes black within 15 days.
“We are not getting services considering the water tariff. Without improving the quality of service, why water tariff is increased every year”
A group of residents from Jurain demonstrated in front of the WASA’s Karwan Bazar headquarters on April 23, 2019, demanding pure water.
The image of Mizanur Rahman, a resident carrying a full jug of dirty water ws a sarcastic gift of “sherbet” for WASA Managing Director Taqsem A Khan for saying “water supplied by WASA was 100 percent safe”.
Last month, a study by South Asian Network on Economic Modelling (SANEM), a research organisation, found that the poverty rate in the country had been doubled in two years.
The organisation interviewed 5,577 households across the country last year, and found that 42 percent of them were below the poverty line. The rate was 21.6 percent when the same group was interviewed in 2018.
According to the proposal to be placed at a meeting of Dhaka WASA Board on Monday, the price of each unit (1,000 litres) of water will be Tk 15.18 for residential use and Tk 42 for commercial use, up from the current rate of Tk 14.46 and Tk 40 respectively.
The company also wants to raise sewerage charges at the same rate, WASA sources said.
Terming the price hike proposal illogical, Chairman of Institute of Water and Environment M Inamul Haque said, Dhaka WASA increased the price of water and sewerage charges, but the city dwellers are not getting better service.
He said the quality of tap water in many city areas did not improve, and many residents depend on private deep tube-wells for water.
Inamul said, many areas of the capital still remain out of the coverage of WASA’s sewerage network.
WASA Chairman Golam Mostafa said the company increased water price by five percent every year to adjust with inflation.
The board meeting would be held today and if it endorses the price hike proposal, the new price would be effective from July 1, he said.
About the corona virus situation, Golam Mostofa said that they were not hiking the price considering the pandemic although there was still a huge gap between the production cost and price of water.
“We only earn half of the production cost of water and we have to increase the price gradually to have a sustainable future for the company,” he said.
Asked whether they would send the proposal to the LGRD ministry for approval, he said the WASA board can approve proposals for hiking the price by five percent every year.
The Dhaka WASA can increase the water tariff by five percent in consultation with the government as per section 22 of the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority Act, 1996.
WASA MD Taqsem said, they want to hike the tariff by only five percent to adjust with inflation.
About increasing sewerage charges, he said that they realised the charges only from clients in the city’s 18 to 20 percent areas which are under coverage of sewerage network.
“We have a master plan to bring 100 percent of areas under the sewerage network. Once the plan is implemented, we will realize sewerage charges from clients across the city,” he added.
