After three years, the Rajshahi Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) aims to increase the price of water. The proposal for the price hike has already been submitted to the ministry.
On October 16 last year, Wasa's 16th Board Meeting decided to recommend a 30% increase.
Wasa claims that even with the price hike, the water tariff will remain lower than that of the Rajshahi City Corporation. However, civic group leaders have threatened protests if Wasa proceeds with the price increase.
According to Wasa, Rajshahi Wasa was established as a separate water supply branch from the City Corporation on August 1, 2010. Wasa currently extracts water from 123 deep tube wells and supplies it through pipelines.
The city’s daily water demand is 13 crore litres. However, Wasa can supply 107 crore litres of water daily through 859km of pipelines.
At present, Wasa has a total of 49,248 water connections, with 48,527 residential and 721 commercial connections. These lines supply 2.53 crore kilolitres of water annually.
According to Wasa’s data, the agency incurred a loss of nearly Tk6 crore in the 2023-24 fiscal year, which is fully subsidised by the government. Additionally, the annual loss due to system losses is about Tk10 crore. To address these losses, Wasa has proposed a price increase.
According to the proposal sent to the Ministry of Local Government, the current rate for residential users is Tk6.81 per 1,000 litres, and Tk13.62 for commercial users. However, with a proposed 30% increase, the new rates would rise to Tk8.85 for residential users and Tk17.70 for commercial users.
Additionally, for residential use with a half-inch pipe, the minimum monthly rate for a one-storey building is proposed to increase from Tk150 to Tk195, and for a 10-storey building, from Tk825 to Tk1,073.
For a one-inch pipe, the rate for a one-storey building would rise from Tk375 to Tk488, and for a 10-storey building, from Tk2,070 to Tk2,651. It has also been decided that water bills for floors from the second to the ninth, as well as those above the 10th, will increase proportionately.
Jamat Khan, General Secretary of the Rajshahi Rakkha Sangram Parishad, said: “Wasa had promised to ensure safe drinking water for city residents, but they have failed to do so since their inception. The proposed water price hike is not aligned with the income levels of Rajshahi residents.”
He added: “In the past, they tripled water prices at once. We protested at that time as well, but Wasa ignored the residents of Rajshahi and implemented the hike in collaboration with certain political leaders.”
He warned saying: “If they increase the price again, the people of Rajshahi will unite to surround the Wasa offices and initiate a strong protest. We will launch a rigorous movement against this decision.”
Nadim Sarwar, Deputy Managing Director (Finance and Administration) of Rajshahi Wasa, said: “The proposal for a water price increase has been sent to the ministry. The prices are not being increased immediately, and the decision on whether the increase will take place lies with the ministry. We have only submitted the proposal.”
He added: “The decision to propose a 30% price hike was made during the 16th board meeting held in October. The price increase was approved in that meeting to remove the subsidy on water.”
