Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (CWASA) is going to increase water tariff by 5% which will come into effect from January 1, 2016.
At present the domestic consumers have to buy every 1,000 litre of water at Tk6.25 (1 unit). On the other hand, the industrial and commercial users now have to spend Tk20.53 for consuming same quantity of water.
The decision to raise the tariff by 5% was taken at a meeting of the water supply authority on Saturday.
CWASA Secretary Mohammad Samsuddoha told the Dhaka Tribune that the water tariff in Chittagong was comparatively lower than any other cities of the country.
“We are supplying water to city residents at the cheapest rate. Even the tariff of Dhaka Wasa is higher than that of Chittagong Wasa. We are incurring huge losses as we have to subsidise a considerable amount of money for supplying water to the city dwellers,” said Samsuddoha.
At present the production cost of per unit is Tk17.45. There is nothing to worry about the hike in tariff as it is increased by 5% every year, he added.
“We supply water to city residents through 94 pumps across the city. For ensuring uninterrupted supply of water we have to keep the pumps operational round the clock and the electricity tariff has also increased over the time,” he added.
SM Nazer Hossain, president, Chittagong Division of Consumers’ Association of Bangladesh (CAB), told the Dhaka Tribune that it was not at all logical to raise the tariff.
“There is still a huge gap between demand and supply. The CWASA should not have hiked the tariff without bridging the existing demand-supply gap. Since it is a service-oriented organisation, the CWASA should have held a view-exchange meeting with the consumers before increasing the tariff,” said the consumers’ rights activist.
Referring to demand-supply gap, the CWASA secretary said they had undertaken a number of mega project to ensure uninterrupted water supply.
“We are now working with a mega project. The present demand-supply gap is going to be reduced by 70% with the completion of the project by next March,” assured the Secretary.
It may be mentioned that the CWASA started its journey in 1963 with the objective of supplying safe drinking water to the city dwellers.
At present the CWASA has to supply water to 54,330 domestic connections and 7,387 commercial and industrial connections.